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In last years, increasing fleet electrification, improvement in solar panel efficiency and reduction in their costs are concurring toward an increasing attention to the integration of photovoltaic in road vehicles. As in fixed plants, the adoption of solar tracking systems would allow to enhance the solar contribution. But a mobile solar systems for a car must have specific features, due to space constraints and to specific exigencies of a mobile application such as instabilities, energy and aerodynamic losses. Due to these reasons, they should operate only in parking mode. A kinematic model of mobile solar roof, as a parallel robot, has been developed and used to optimize the roof geometry; the benefits of a mobile roof, in terms of solar energy gain at different latitudes and months, have been assessed. A second prototype of solar tracking roof with two degrees of freedom has been then realized, to overcome some mechanical problems.

The integration of photovoltaic (PV) panels on electric and hybrid vehicles is gaining interest, thanks to the increasing fleet electrification, the improvement in solar panel efficiency and the reduction in their costs. In order to maximize the solar contribution, the adoption of self-orienting solar roof when the vehicle is parked can be considered. In the paper, the authors present a study on the energy management of a moving solar roof, as a 3 d.o.f. parallel robot, in a solar assisted vehicle. A model based control is developed, based on combined use of measured solar power, image processing form a digital camera and data provided by a GPS module, and implemented over a small scale prototype. An optimal tracking strategy, considering the effects of different insolation and of mechanical losses, is also presented.