What is the amount of solar energy required to drive a 250 pound cart with a 250 pound person 10 miles? How many square feet of recharged paneling would be required?
What is the amount of solar energy required to drive a 250 pound cart with a 250 pound person 10 miles? How many square feet of recharged paneling would be required?
Here is an antique table with guidelines as to how much a man or a horse can draw in a cart at various speeds: http://books.google.com/books?id=rZh-AAAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA200&lpg=RA3-PA200&dq=handbook+animal+power+10+hours+a+day&source=bl&ots=BOU3rcG0a3&sig=ty3ilPWVesQ52VB7skx4-Jc6H8U&hl=en&ei=nxafSo3nEIKUtgfPlZQB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false
On a flat road, you could get away with maybe 1/10 HP, and go 3 mph.
On rails, you could carry 10 times as much weight.
A barge on a canal, 50 times as much.
Allowing for losses, that’s about a 100-watt panel in strong sunlight.
If there is any uphill, that’s an entirely different matter.
If you are willing to go slowly enough, all you need from the solar panel is enough to overcome static friction to get the cart started.
I do know that a cyclist cruising along at a moderate speed (say, 10 miles an hour) is expending about 1/10 horsepower. That’s 80 watts. So on flat ground, a 100-watt panel push them over the 10 miles in an hour. Such a panel, if square, would be 2 to 2.5 feet on a side, if made with typical contemporary materials. If the terrain is more than gently rolling hills, more power would be needed.
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