PV Panel to Recharge EV

["Pat Maston" <PAM@gty.ci.henderson.nv.us>]

I'm interested in building a PV panel to recharge my '80 Jet Electrica.  It's 120V in its present configuration.  What I'm thinking of is soldering together enough cells to produce more than the 120V of the pack, then connecting the panel directly to the pack with a diode or a charge controller.  Someone suggested that I use 12V panels with an inverter hooked to charger, but I think the losses involved won't make that system worthwhile.  It think I can fit 256 cells in a panel under the rear hatch glass.  This would give me 128 open circuit volts at 1-2A.  The full-load voltage is about 0.45V per cell.  I could remove one or two batteries to get the pack voltage down low enough for the panel to be effective.  I'm not looking to fully recharge the pack after a long trip, just top it up after a few miles while the car's sitting around out here in the desert.  Any comments/suggestions?  Does anyone know where I can obtain a charge controller for this application?

Thanks for your help,

Patrick Maston
Las Vegas, NV