Transportation is important for traveling. It is the easiest way to reach the point of destination. Whatever means of transportation you are using, the purpose is to carry you from one place to another in the fastest and most convenient way.

Without fuel, transportation can be very inefficient. Today, transportation consumes petroleum to power the engines of the vehicles for it to run. But the problem is there will come a time that the petroleum can become scarce. The country might be using most of the money funding the imports of petroleum from other countries.

If there is enough petroleum to supply and power vehicles, what about the environment? The use of petroleum in vehicles is one of the contributors of air pollution. They are the main contributors to smog, green house effect and acid rain. The vehicle user also thinks of a better ways to help lessen environmental problems by reducing air pollution. They decided to adopt the new methods of inventors using solar energy to power their engines.

Energy from the sun has many uses. It is called the solar power. What help could you get from the sun's energy to improve the means of transportation? Vehicles can function even without fuels by only using solar energy provided by the sun. The vehicle's heart is the battery and the motor. The fuel acts as blood supplying energy or electricity to the motor for it to start.

Solar energy is used instead of fuels to directly power the motor or charge the battery so that it will function. Cars, bicycles, boats and airplanes can be powered up using the solar energy. Photovoltaic cells or the PV cells are used for converting solar energy to electricity. It can be directly either be built on the car's body or installed in a building or onto the vehicles shelter for electric vehicle's battery charging.

Photovoltaic cells are also called solar cells. It absorbs the photon particles from the sun which provides the energy for generation of electricity. The conversion of photovoltaic is useful. It directly coverts solar energy to electricity and allows the quick installation of arrays on the required or allowable sizes. It does not require the use of water to cool the system, thus, it lessens the impact on the environment.

The ability of the solar powered vehicles is dependent on the power of batteries and the methods of its construction. Whether it uses either aerodynamics or light-weight methods upon construction, it must save energy. Larger space for the installation of PV cells should also be provided. Photovoltaic cell is not a mechanical device because it is made from the alloys of silicon.

However solar powered vehicles can only function if there is sunlight. They can only get little amount of sun's energy everyday and transform it to useful smaller amount of energy to function. The sunlight affects photovoltaic cells performance. The weather change conditions such as fogs and clouds affect the sunlight. It prevents the PV cells from receiving larger amount of the solar energy.

Solar powered vehicles which has a PV array that is built-in has a major distinction in terms of weight, size, cost and maximum speed compared to traditional vehicles and electric vehicles. So now it is commonly used for research and development, it became a useful tool on education and a famous invention used on world races.