Analysis of Si tandem solar cells for vehicle applications

Solar-powered electric vehicles (Solar-EV) are very attractive for reducing CO2 emission and creation of new market. The Si tandem solar cells are very promising for solar-EV applications because of high-efficiency and low-cost potential. This paper presents our new world record efficiency (33.7%) mechanically stacked 4-terminal InGaP/GaAs/Si 3-junction tandem solar cell module with an area of 775 cm2. In this paper, analytical results for driving range of solar-EV installed with various solar cell modules by considering reliability of solar cell modules. The III-V/Si tandem solar cell modules are shown to have great potential for solar-EV applications because of long driving distance of 28 km/day average. Although the perovskite/Si tandem solar cells are also very attractive for solar-EV applications, thermal defgradation and light dgradation rates for peovskite and perovskite/Si tamdem solar cells are estimated to be each 36% after 5 years in this study. Improvements in reliability for perovskite and perovskite/Si tandem solar cell modules is necessary for solar-EV applications.