We build vehicles that do more with less energy. See what that efficiency could mean at scale.
See the Impact for Yourself
Adjust the trip parameters below and hit calculate.
CO₂ Saved
0.0
kg CO₂ prevented vs. a gasoline car over 2.5k km
0.0% less CO₂ · 196.0 litres of fuel not burned
Real-world impact equivalents
28.8
Wh/km modeled propulsion energy
Brightside at the selected average speed
see the mathHow we calculated this
road-load energy ÷ trip distance
Uses Brightside's drag, frontal area, rolling resistance and mass. This is a physics-model estimate, not wall-to-wheel measured consumption.
4.9×
less energy demand than the EV benchmark
80% lower modeled energy use
see the mathHow we calculated this
EV kWh ÷ Brightside modeled kWh
EV benchmark: 14.1 kWh/100 km. Brightside is compared on modeled propulsion-energy demand.
30.27
kWh captured from onboard solar
array output after MPPT losses
see the mathHow we calculated this
749.04 W × 97% MPPT × trip hours
Battery round-trip efficiency is not applied to panel generation because array energy does not necessarily complete a full charge/discharge cycle.
0.071
g CO₂e/km operational emissions
25% assumed B.C. grid energy share
see the mathHow we calculated this
grid kWh × 9.9 g CO₂e/kWh ÷ distance
Brightside and the EV use the same B.C. grid carbon intensity. Only the assumed grid-supplied share contributes operational charging emissions here.
757
cups of tea powered by the solar energy captured
~0.04 kWh to boil one cup
see the mathHow we calculated this
onboard solar kWh ÷ 0.04 kWh/cup
A 250 mL cup of water takes roughly 0.04 kWh to heat in an electric kettle. This is a simple energy-equivalent comparison.
2.6k
Big Macs worth of energy contained in the gasoline
for the same trip in a 30 MPG car
see the mathHow we calculated this
gasoline fuel kWh ÷ (580 kcal × 0.001163 kWh/kcal)
This compares the chemical energy in the gasoline with the food-energy equivalent of a ~580 kcal Big Mac. It does not imply the energies are used with equal efficiency.
A bigger picture
What if every trip used Brightside-level efficiency?
As an efficiency thought experiment, if 1.2 million daily Metro Vancouver car trips used Brightside's modeled energy efficiency and the same 25% grid-share assumption, the operational emissions difference versus a 30 MPG gasoline baseline would be approximately 967.1k tonnes of CO₂ per year, the equivalent of taking 210,248 average gasoline cars' annual emissions.
0t
tonnes CO₂ prevented
every single day
every single day
0t
tonnes CO₂ prevented
per year
per year
Based on 1.2M daily Metro Vancouver car trips at the efficiency of Brightside's engineering model, compared with the same 30 MPG gasoline baseline used elsewhere on this page. B.C. grid carbon intensity: 9.9 gCO₂e/kWh. This is a scale illustration, not a regional adoption forecast.
Full metric comparison
Solar Car
Brightside's engineering constants: array power, drag, rolling resistance, mass
Electric Car
EV benchmark at 14.1 kWh/100 km using the same B.C. grid factor as Brightside (9.9 gCO₂e/kWh)
Gasoline Car
EPA baseline of 30 MPG and 8.887 kg CO₂/gallon scaled to trip distance
| Metric | ☀ Solar Car | ⚡ Electric Car | 🚗 Gasoline Car |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operational CO₂ emitted | 0.1785 kg | 3.490 kg | 460.18 kg |
| Input energy over trip | 72.12 kWh modeled | 352.50 kWh electricity | 1.8k kWh fuel energy |
| Operational CO₂ per km | 0.071 g/km LOWEST | 1.40 g/km | 184.1 g/km |
| Energy per km | 28.8 Wh/km EFFICIENCY LEADER | 141.0 Wh/km | 713.4 Wh/km fuel |
| Onboard solar captured | 30.27 kWh | None onboard | None onboard |
| Energy cost (USD, est.) | $2.34 | $45.83 | $186.19 |
Brightside energy breakdown · this trip
Modeled propulsion demand
72.12 kWh
Onboard solar captured
30.27 kWh
Assumed grid energy
18.03 kWh
Solar Car Specs
Model constants from our 3rd generation car, Brightside
Array Power749.04 W
MPPT Efficiency97%
Vehicle Mass350 kg
Frontal Area1.1853 m²
Drag Coefficient0.1166
CdA0.138 m²
Rolling Resistance Input0.0234
B.C. Grid Carbon9.9 g CO₂e/kWh
EV Benchmark14.1 kWh/100 km
Gasoline Baseline30 MPG · 8.887 kg CO₂/gal
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