Case Study: Lightyear achieves up to 18% improved solar energy capture and automated DMPPT with MathWorks (MATLAB & Simulink)

Model-Based Optimization of a Solar-Powered Car at Lightyear

Lightyear, maker of the solar‑charged Lightyear One, faced the constraint that electric cars typically need essentially flat roofs to maximize solar-cell efficiency—limiting aerodynamic design and aesthetics. To optimize the energy flow from the vehicle’s solar panels and associated electronics, Lightyear worked with MathWorks and used MATLAB, Simulink, Simscape, and Embedded Coder to model and analyze solar-array behavior on real vehicle bodies.

Using MathWorks tools, Lightyear built a Solar Simulator Model and implemented distributed maximum power point tracking (DMPPT) by partitioning cells into groups and adding balancing converters; the model places cells on the body, assigns groups, derives IV curves from weather/solar data, and optimizes group size versus converter loss. The MathWorks-based solution automated DMPPT for any car body, quickly identified the sweet spot between group size and converter loss, and improved performance on typically curved cars by up to 18 percentage points.

Lightyear

Arjo van der Ham

Lightyear