So, assuming that a solar panel is flush with the ground (i.e. only the photovoltaic side is visible, the other sides are covered by dirt,) what would happen if it was run over by a car? How about an SUV? Would it break?Would the solar panel still generate electricity?
it would ruin and it ought to nevertheless do power yet no longer plenty yet maximum possibly there may well be no power and plus why might somebody placed a photo voltaic panel on the line? that should in basic terms be stupid.
Even running over one with a mountain bike will break the pannel. Now depending on how you run it over it might still produce power. If the circut is unbroken then what ever cells were not shattered and severed will work but most likely at a lesser capacity.
Cars and SUVs weigh anywhere from a couple of thousand pounds up to ten thousand pounds. Solar panels are typically not designed to take that sort of weight. So the short answer is that it would crush the solar panel, and certainly damage the photoelectric cells inside it. - Stuart
Solar panels have tempered glass, and are tougher than they seem. On commercial buildings where the panels are flat, they have a person with a mop regularly clean them, and that person walks right on the panels. A car might crack the glass, but that could be solved by simply using stronger glass. The problem of putting a panel right in the roadway would mainly be that the cars passing over it shadow the panel constantly. On a rooftop installation, installers try to avoid even a tiny shadow from a vent pipe or overhead wire, as this has a larger effect than might be supposed. Also, road grime would quickly accumulate on the panel and reduce its efficiency. Glass would be slippery as a road surface, but that problem could be solved. Metal is slippery, too, but they make bridges out of it. EDIT: To clarify, I meant serious solar panels in the first paragraph. The hobby type that they sell at Radio Shack or Harbor Freight are fragile.
