How has this not been created yet?

[number12]

after reading of some people paying $4k to charge at home + tesla buying solar city...

How has an stand alone solar (possible protable) charger been invented at whatever cost. Even $10k if you could fit it in your X during camping for instance. Set it up, suck up sun rays, charge at night. OR more practically set up some sort of panel at your house that stores energy to charge your car even half way.

Is this somewhere and I'm not finding it? It seems to obvious.. Or would panel have to be to big?

 

[Xminus6]

A single solar panel would give a negligible charge to an EV. I have 41 330w panels on my roof and this month my whole system wouldn't charge a 90kWh car from flat in a day.

 

[Ingineer]

It would have to be VERY big.

One of the best panels on the market is the SunPower X series: https://us.sunpower.com/sites/sunpo...1-series-335-345-residential-solar-panels.pdf

They are about 62" x 42" and put out 345w (that's at peak solar time around noon).

To get even a "trickle" charge similar to you would using your UMC on a 120v outlet, you'd need about 6 of these. That would put you at a peak of about 2kW, which on an 85 would mean you'd probably only get at most about 8kWh or a little less than 10% charge per day. You'd also need to position the panels to be in the optimal angle and position with no shadows. This 6 panel array would cost you about $3k (panels only), take up over 105 square feet and weigh well over 300 lbs just for the panels and mounting. (not including inverter) You might just barely get this to fit in the X, I'm not really sure about it. I think it would fit in an S with the seats down.

To get a full charge in a day, you'd probably need at least 10 times the panels, or over 1050 square feet of panels weighing over 3000lbs.

The only way solar makes sense is on a roof. Then this way you can also power loads in your home, and use the grid to "bank" your power so you can charge at night when the sun is down.

 

[number12]

It would have to be VERY big.

One of the best panels on the market is the SunPower X series: https://us.sunpower.com/sites/sunpo...1-series-335-345-residential-solar-panels.pdf

They are about 62" x 42" and put out 345w (that's at peak solar time around noon).

To get even a "trickle" charge similar to you would using your UMC on a 120v outlet, you'd need about 6 of these. That would put you at a peak of about 2kW, which on an 85 would mean you'd probably only get at most about 8kWh or a little less than 10% charge per day. You'd also need to position the panels to be in the optimal angle and position with no shadows. This 6 panel array would cost you about $3k (panels only), take up over 105 square feet and weigh well over 300 lbs just for the panels and mounting. (not including inverter) You might just barely get this to fit in the X, I'm not really sure about it. I think it would fit in an S with the seats down.

To get a full charge in a day, you'd probably need at least 10 times the panels, or over 1050 square feet of panels weighing over 3000lbs.

The only way solar makes sense is on a roof. Then this way you can also power loads in your home, and use the grid to "bank" your power so you can charge at night when the sun is down.

Good info.


I guess I just remember the Prius a couple years ago having a solar ones roof mainly the turn the ac on when the car was off during hot days. Tesla basically owns a solar company and has no solar components.

Panels have to become more efficient tin capturing power right?

 

[Ingineer]

The panel on the Plug-in-Prius only ran the fan, not the A/C. The fan on low pulls only 20 watts or so, whereas the A/C pulls 100 times that.

 

[Adrien]

I guess I just remember the Prius a couple years ago having a solar ones roof mainly the turn the ac on when the car was off during hot days. Tesla basically owns a solar company and has no solar components.

Not even enough for that. It just ran a little fan to circulate air. A/C is a power hog.

Common panels are right around 15% efficient. The best in the world are still only in the 40% region I believe. Even with 100% efficiency there just isn't enough energy in sunlight to make sense to put on a vehicle or "pack it up and go". Battery storage is the key to this solar issue. Store it, then use it later at a high draw.

 

[Chopr147]

Forget solar, what about a powerpack to give you say 10 miles if you run out of power? You know , like the big battery jumpers . Probably would also have to be too big. Maybe in the future

 

[Ingineer]

Forget solar, what about a powerpack to give you say 10 miles if you run out of power? You know , like the big battery jumpers . Probably would also have to be too big. Maybe in the future

You'd need at least 4kWh, which would probably weigh at least 70 lbs with the electronics and cable needed. How much would you pay for this? It would probably need to cost about $2k. No market! If you ever run out of power, first off; you are doing it wrong, secondly; just call for a tow. Probably cost a lot less.

 

[number12]

I'd pay $1k if it was small enough. And take on trips where you are stretching the range as is.

 

[ecarfan]

Is this somewhere and I'm not finding it? It seems to obvious.. Or would panel have to be to big?

The product you are imagining does not exist because solar panels are not efficient enough to make it small enough to be portable and inexpensive enough to be marketable. Not even close.

I expect it will be decades before such a product will exist, if ever.

 

[Sandman1962]

Yesterday, my 24 panels produced roughly the equivalent of 3 hours of charge from my 14-50 charging cable.... So yes, we do have room for improvement. But solar panels and an electric car, still a good combination.

 

[Matthew Short]

Get an induction charger in your garage, solar panels need to be big to charge 90kwh car

 

[Matthew Short]

Get an induction charger in your garage, solar panels need to be big to charge 90kwh car

 

[Xminus6]

To answer your question more specifically, the revamped Karma Revero was introduced today.

According to press materials, "the solar roof can generate up to 1.5 miles of electric range per day, depending on weather conditions."

So basically, nothing.

 

[Ingineer]

Yeah "Up to 1.5m" if the car was was placed in orbit! =)

I bet it will barely hit a 1/4 mile an a bright sunny day.

 

[number12]

To answer your question more specifically, the revamped Karma Revero was introduced today.

According to press materials, "the solar roof can generate up to 1.5 miles of electric range per day, depending on weather conditions."

So basically, nothing.

Pretty sweet though. Something like this plus a place to store it could house 3-4 miles, which would be enough to get you to an outlet.

 

[Ingineer]

Pretty sweet though. Something like this plus a place to store it could house 3-4 miles, which would be enough to get you to an outlet.

I contend that if you planned poorly enough to run out of charge 3-4 miles from an outlet, you should just call a tow truck. Unless you are braindead, you definitely won't make that same mistake again, and thus whyt would you pay thousands of dollars for a 3-4 mile insurance policy? I'll be happy to send someone immediately to your location to pick you up if you ever run out, and I'll only charge you $1000. =)

 

[number12]

I contend that if you planned poorly enough to run out of charge 3-4 miles from an outlet, you should just call a tow truck. Unless you are braindead, you definitely won't make that same mistake again, and thus whyt would you pay thousands of dollars for a 3-4 mile insurance policy? I'll be happy to send someone immediately to your location to pick you up if you ever run out, and I'll only charge you $1000. =)

Truth. BUT it would be cool to tell people about!

 

[EVie'sDad]

What about putting panels on sides of intersections, and as teslas (or other EV's if you choose) drive over them and stop to wait for a traffic light, they automatically get charged from connectors in the pavement?

Something like the new charging aparatus Plugfree is touting?

 

[Ingineer]

Who is going to build that costly infrastructure? How about this, plug in at home every night when the grid is lightly loaded. Use the supercharger network in the relatively rare case you take a road trip. Tesla spent a fortune on the superchargers, and they are working now. I'm surprised they have been able to build as many as they have. Why propose something that would cost hundreds of times the cost of the supercharger network to build? We can barely afford to maintain the existing road and bridge system in the US as it is.