[doug]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJsHSaz2v8E#!

The talk ties in that "new brand language" discussed here: http://fiskerbuzz.com/forums/Thread-Fisker-ad-in-Wall-Street-Journal-on-Friday

 

[rex]

I like what he says at 7:25ish -- (7:30) Why do small fuel efficient cars always have to look dorky? Why can't we make a beautiful gorgeous car?

What about putting a solar roof on the car that can charge the car?

Nice articulation of vision to reality.

 

[doug]

What about putting a solar roof on the car that can charge the car?

A little math shows that it's a poor use of resources.

 

[Fabulist]

What about putting a solar roof on the car that can charge the car?

A little math shows that it's a poor use of resources.

That could be said of the car, the internal combustion engine, and in fact the global transportation infrastructure as a whole. Another way to look at it is that when you use a familiar technology in an unconventional way, the natural evolution and adaptation process makes subsequent generations better and better but without that initial spark, the process would never be put in motion in the first place.

 

[doug]

What about putting a solar roof on the car that can charge the car?

A little math shows that it's a poor use of resources.

That could be said of the car, the internal combustion engine, and in fact the global transportation infrastructure as a whole. Another way to look at it is that when you use a familiar technology in an unconventional way, the natural evolution and adaptation process makes subsequent generations better and better but without that initial spark, the process would never be put in motion in the first place.

Sure that could be said about a lot of things, but I was really only talking about the solar panel.

I remember when Tesla first got noticed back in 2006. Along with the many wacky comments on Tesla's corporate blog unwittingly suggesting perpetual motion machines, a bunch earnestly suggested solar panels on the roof of the car. It seems so ingenious and obvious, until you actually sit down and do a back of the envelope calculation.

Really, unless you're willing to have your car look and perform like this:

the solar panels are better placed on your house and your car charged from an outlet.

To people that understand this, the solar roof on the Karma says Fisker is more about projecting a green image than they are about substance. Fortunately Fisker seems to have wisely abandoned the solar roof for the Atlantic.

 

[ct-fiskerbuzz]

I remember when Tesla first got noticed back in 2006. Along with the many wacky comments on Tesla's corporate blog unwittingly suggesting perpetual motion machines...

Ah yes, the old "put a wind-powered generator on it and use that to spin the wheels" thing.

(In a similar vein, years ago, when I was with my father and his wife and we did a tour of either the Hoover or Glen Canyon dam—I forget which—he asked why they didn't just use the electricity produced by the generators to pump the water back up behind the dam to make even more electricity. Some people just don't get thermodynamics.)

... a bunch earnestly suggested solar panels on the roof of the car. It seems so ingenious and obvious, until you actually sit down and do a back of the envelope calculation. ...

To people that understand this, the solar roof on the Karma says Fisker is more about projecting a green image than they are about substance. Fortunately Fisker seems to have wisely abandoned the solar roof for the Atlantic.

If the solar PV roof were super-cheap, you could explain it as a way to keep the 12V system running when the car is parked in the airport for six months while you're out of the country.

If it had been an option, I would have ordered mine sans solar PV roof. The ~$5k is much better spent on the solar PV panels going on the roof of my house "real soon now" (well, I hope—there's no roof on the new garage and office section yet, but the construction co ordered the roof trusses from a specialized roof-truss-company a while ago so they should be arriving soon).

Even so, I don't mind actually having the solar roof. Although the longest I expect to leave the Karma in the airport parking lot at a time is 2 or 3 months.