I've always been impressed at the cost effectiveness of the car industry. Namely cars are a miracle of competition. No other industry has been able to sell such large and complex products for so little. Yes 30k is a lot of money but it is nothing if you consider the costs of buying a car worth of parts individually.
Which to me indicates if car manufacturers ever decide to make on roof panels a standard feature it would be a net positive value add.
The panels do produce a measurable value. Well worth the 500 dollar cost which would be possible if makers included them as standard.
The challenge is getting to that local optimal requires going through the period where roof panels are premium options. Thus I suspect we will never reach that local optima.
Instead solar panels on cars will remain the esoteric interest of hobbiests and concept cars.
Which to me indicates if car manufacturers ever decide to make on roof panels a standard feature it would be a net positive value add.
The panels do produce a measurable value. Well worth the 500 dollar cost which would be possible if makers included them as standard.
The challenge is getting to that local optimal requires going through the period where roof panels are premium options. Thus I suspect we will never reach that local optima.
Instead solar panels on cars will remain the esoteric interest of hobbiests and concept cars.