(But it would be nice if the next-gen solar panels installed on a car would be efficient enough to provide enough power for a car drive) You only get abo

(But it would be nice if the next-gen solar panels installed on a car would be efficient enough to provide enough power for a car drive) You only get about 1.5KW of light per square metre, on average. A car has maybe 4-8 square metres of usable solar panel space, so guess you could get 3-6KW of power using superexpensive cutting-edge 3-junction solar panels that manage 50% efficiency. Model S has a 310KW motor. Assume you only run it at 10% of rated power when cruising, and that's 31KW of power draw. More than that, of course, since the motor controller won't be perfectly efficient. No way you can run a consumer vehicle on solar panels built into the body.