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Model 3 may have Solar Roof that can charge the vehicle

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Say goodbye to this view solar folks.

Not me. This will be my view.

That is the sunburn your rear passenger option.

I think that is only available on show cars to demonstrate the interior. Not available to actual customers.

I want a solar roof. Not because it is justified scientifically. Or by an engineering analysis. Or by an Economist. But because it looks cool.
 
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Honest question here: Why is a solar roof on a car, cool, but many people think a solar roof on a house is not? I just don't get it.

There's absolutely no evidence to suggest any statistical or factual relevance in the thesis of that question. Thus, there isn't an ounce of honest legitimacy behind that question.
 
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But.. don't you think solar on a house is cool and on a car it's not? :)

No. I think solar on a house is an efficient use of resources to advance us to a sustainable world, and that solar on a car is a much less efficient use of such resources. It is not clear to me that it would even pay off its embodied energy on an average car.

Thank you kindly.
 
No. I think solar on a house is an efficient use of resources to advance us to a sustainable world, and that solar on a car is a much less efficient use of such resources. It is not clear to me that it would even pay off its embodied energy on an average car.
Loads of RVers have solar in lieu of generators (or in addition to generators, in many cases). The solar panels are portable, fold up and store in the camper while not in use. I've wondered about this very math before - is it worth the resources to make the panels if they're only used intermittently? That's a reason I bought a higher priced but completely weatherproof setup. I leave it out even when my camper is in storage to keep the batteries topped up.

I get the feeling that if, and that's a big if, they really do offer a solar canopy or roof for the 3, the marketing will not be about the individual vehicle, but about the aggregate. They could choose to say something like "if even half of purchasers get this option, we'll generate <some seemingly large number> of energy every year." But it will be mostly marketing, as we've covered exhaustively in this thread.

Either way, you've moved a bit away from your original question, which was about "cool".
Honest question here: Why is a solar roof on a car, cool, but many people think a solar roof on a house is not? I just don't get it.
 
Honest question here: Why is a solar roof on a car, cool, but many people think a solar roof on a house is not? I just don't get it.

Thank you kindly.


I want a solar roof on my house.

Only problem is: the house we are in the process of buying is a complete foundation-up, studs-out rehab,

It's going to be hard to justify financially ripping up a brand new 30-year roof six months into its life to lay down a Tesla Solar Roof.
 
is it worth the resources to make the panels if they're only used intermittently?

Energy payback for solar panels (as put on buildings) is about 2-3 years, last I checked. If we assume a similar energy content in car based panels, and a fifteen year lifespan on the car, that means simple energy payback requires at least 20% utilization. More for financial payback, of course.

Either way, you've moved a bit away from your original question, which was about "cool".

No one has answered my question. But I do have more than one question...

Thank you kindly.
 
Obviously there's a lot of demand, even if the (assumed) cost is not justified due to the small size and poor sun angle/exposure. People will buy it, it's not hard for tesla to put the PVs in the cars when they already have a glass roof, have a plant putting solar cells in another glass roof, the solar roof part probably would not affect their manufacturing at all compared to the glass roof.

A) It doesn't make sense to count the value of a solar roof as just the cost of energy it generates. If it generates 1-2 miles a day, and you drive your range total once a week, that is half the value of upgrading battery sizes $10,000 to go from an S75 to S90.

B) There is a small efficiency savings in going solar DC directly to the car's pack, instead of home AC conversion to car's DC and voltage.
C) there are going to be rare instances of extended airport parking, camping, driving out of supercharger range where it really helps. Especially airport parking - where you don't want to drive a long distance to an airport then leave it sitting with vampire drain.
 
I have a pano roof today on MS - while it's nice , and I'm it complaining I would not call it the most essential feature. I like it more for its open convertible feel. 99.99999999%!of the time you never look up.
I have 10 foot and vaulted ceilings throughout my home. I will never use the space 8 feet and up, however its a fantastic environment.
Does everything have to be functional and efficient? No.

Many times enjoyment is worth more than money or time.
 
There is a small efficiency savings in going solar DC directly to the car's pack, instead of home AC conversion to car's DC and voltage.

Unlikely. At the extremely low power that that these would be working at, charging at 400 Volts is going to be pretty inefficient. Charging at 1500W of a 110 outlet takes much longer than would seem reasonable by just scaling the charging rate for 240V @ 48A (So bad that Tesla appears to have taken it off the charge estimator). Charging at 180W will be worse still. Admittedly there is no AC->DC conversion, but there is still a DC->DC conversion. 56 cells (7x8) at 0.5V each is 28 Volts and 6.5 Amps. At 400V that is 0.45 Amps. Good luck finding an off-the-shelf solution as well.

Thank you kindly.
 
true, but i think a lot of that is due to running BMS controls, and especially heating or cooling, at the same time, they could potentially optimize it better for low voltage charging through the DC voltage transformer, or doing something like letting the solar DC feed 1 battery module at a time, whatever the smallest series grouping they could physically connect.

again, this is not much of a help, but it's a little bit. Think 10 years ahead of solar cell efficiency improvement and cost declines and it starts to add up.