Assessing the scope of vehicle integrated photovoltaics in urban driving conditions – Case study of a Tier-II city in southern India

Vehicle-integrated photovoltaics (VIPV) technology for passenger cars is an interesting approach to achieving decarbonization in sustainable transportation. The eminence of VIPV is ascribed in faster growing economies as an on-board energy source for cars. Literature reports that the scope of VIPV is relatively unexplored in low-latitude tropical climatic regions of urban India. In this study, a real-time empirical assessment is performed to analyse the solar irradiance patterns over a vehicle driven in the urban layout of a Tier-II city of Vellore (12.9717°N, 79.1654°E) located in Tamil Nadu, southern India. The study was performed for six round trips in a day between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00p.m. (IST) during the autumn equinox season of the year. The vehicle’s interaction with an incessant sun path and hourly patterns of transient irradiation (TI) impacting the roof, bonnet, and vertical surfaces were investigated for each drive cycle. A significant drop in TI was observed by the shadow hindrance from buildings and obstacles in the urban scenario. Results conclude that a VIPV passenger car can generate an overall energy yield of 1.03 kWh per day, fostering an energy offset of ∼ 9.47 % that can enhance the vehicle’s drive range by ∼ 11 km in the analyzed conditions.