Solar powered vehicles are met with suspicion. The obvious issue is that solar electricity does not generate enough power per square foot of surface area to extract a lot of power off the roof of a car.
Obviously, you can’t power the electric motor straight from the solar cells unless you want a very impractical car that can only travel 15 MPH in bright sunlight.
Solar isn’t particularly beneficial in traditional automobiles with standard shapes and construction procedures. It might either enhance the range by a few miles per day or just power auxiliary devices.
Vehicles designed to run on solar power through increased efficiency and/or extra solar cells, on the other hand, are a smart solution. Lightyear, Aptera, and Sono (the three challengers for vehicle-mounted solar) are all taking efficiency approach.
The strategy of obtaining extra cells by constructing a folding solar array is unusual since a folding solar array cannot always be deployed in parking lots without interfering with other vehicles, trees, or fences. As a result, the method is no longer financially feasible.
Reference- Clean Technica, CNET story, Lightyear website