Solar photovoltaic panels are prominently integrated into electric vehicle rooftop to charge the battery bank. In this paper, the performance of the conventional solar power source architecture employed in electric vehicles is analyzed using PVsyst real-time simulator. The limitations with solar photovoltaic panels and conventional solar power source are addressed through a novel mirror photovoltaic glass and split power solar source architecture. The design, manufacturing and structural merits of split power solar source are presented. The operational behavior of split power solar source is validated using Matlab. The performance of the mirror photovoltaic glass is analyzed at standard test conditions and various combinations of irradiation and temperatures using climate chamber solar simulator. The performance of mirror photovoltaic glass at on-site conditions is analyzed by comparing with climate chamber solar simulator results. Further, the analysis is validated through a convection analysis carried out using ANSYS. Subsequently, the performance of the split power solar source is studied using PVsyst real-time simulator. The split power source architecture is obtained as the best feasible solar power source design for an electric vehicle in terms of material requirement, replacement cost, withstanding capability, space utilization, power loss, tracking mechanism feasibility and performance through the comparative study. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.