Any flat surface on a ship that is designed for electric should be covered in flexible solar panels.
Why do this if it can’t fully charge the ship? To offset the costs of charging the ship at port, to provide longer range by providing a lower voltage power source for 12V DC charging (cell phones, iPads, 5w LED lights).
So the commenter is correct, she needs panels and the fact that this isn’t part of the launch shows that they were more interested in being first than practical.
Weight won't matter much (you typically only accelerate it once, and the additional drag is small), it is just that the surface area is so small relative to what's needed that it just doesn't move the needle.
> It's made out of aluminum instead of steel. The resulting weight savings make it a bit more efficient. That's something this shipping yard specializes in.
According to that person, weight does indeed matter.
Yes, the weight of the hull, which is immense. Compared to that some solar panels probably weigh about as much as the paint. It's still ship, not an aircraft.
Also, thin film solar panels that can be stuck to a flat roof likely weigh less than the small portion of the battery capacity (250 tonnes of batteries total) they could theoretically substitute for.
If you were optimising for mass rather than ease of maintenance you'd probably put them on (despite the relative lack of surface area meaning you still needed to recharge at each end)
Drag is huge for boats, especially in seas and oceans that have tides and currents. Far more than a car... that also have to continuously burn oil to keep their speed, even on freeways.
It's not a long range vessel, but it should have a fairly long service life.
Additional weight and complexity on a one off boat would be more expensive than a seperate much more standard solar and battery system on land. And you might be able to get additional value out of selling electricity from an oversized storage.
It's not sensible to draw your system boundaries around the boat by itself; there is significant terminal infrastructure; and even grid electrical infrastructure to consider.
Pintegrated panel design,cost, and maintenance can be more expensive than the puchace price of electricity. Putting pannels on regular ground is vastly more efficient.
This is kinda like saying everyone should wear solar hats to offset their home electric bill.
Why do this if it can’t fully charge the ship? To offset the costs of charging the ship at port, to provide longer range by providing a lower voltage power source for 12V DC charging (cell phones, iPads, 5w LED lights).
So the commenter is correct, she needs panels and the fact that this isn’t part of the launch shows that they were more interested in being first than practical.