WorkSolar simulator
Solar performance simulator for commercial vehicles
CAPSolar wanted potential customers to understand what adding solar power to a vehicle could mean for their specific use case.
I built a web based simulator that turns vehicle specifications, location and usage patterns into estimates of solar production and its practical benefits.
The challenge
The value of a vehicle mounted solar system depends on much more than panel size. Location, available surface area, vehicle energy consumption and operating schedule all influence the result.
The challenge was to turn those engineering calculations into a simple experience that a potential customer could use directly from the website.
What I built
I built the complete simulation workflow, from the interactive experience on the website to the backend responsible for the solar calculations.
- Interactive vehicle configuration
- A step by step flow where visitors choose a vehicle category and model, enter their usage and location, and adjust details such as battery capacity, range, daily distance or available panel area when needed.
- Location based solar simulation
- The backend converts the user location into geographic coordinates and combines solar irradiation and weather data with vehicle characteristics to estimate solar production.
- Practical performance estimates
- The simulation translates the technical model into results such as annual solar production, energy coverage, estimated range extension and CO2 savings.
How it works
The interface is built into the CAPSolar website with Next.js and available in French and English. It sends the selected vehicle, operating conditions and location to a separate Python simulation service.
The backend uses Mapbox for geographic information, PVGIS solar and weather data, and pvlib to model photovoltaic production, accounting for panel temperature, wind, losses and operating schedule. PostgreSQL stores simulation data, and the service can turn results into charts and personalized PDF reports.
My role
I developed both the customer facing workflow and the simulation backend.
My work covered the web interface, data flow between the website and simulation service, input validation, geographic integration, photovoltaic calculations, database storage, result generation, deployment and production support.
Stack
- Interface
- Next.jsTypeScript
- Simulation
- PythonFlaskpvlib
- Data
- PostgreSQLPVGISMapbox
- Infrastructure
- Docker
Try the simulator
The simulator is available directly on the CAPSolar website.
Need a customer facing technical tool?
I build software that turns complex calculations and business rules into tools customers can actually use.
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