Solar power roof

[MOE J]

Teslas have black glass roofs, why can’t they implement solar panels to charge the battery while the car sits in the sun all day ?. Even 5 % would be possible ?. Seems like a no brainer.

 

[yesimon]

I charge my car at 110v/10a

Why not 12A?

 

[DuncanM]

Why not 12A?

Here's my charging station:

My Condo EV charging station...

In 2019 I purchased a 2020 Prius Prime after Strata Council OKed me to use a 110V outlet beside my (secure) underground parking spot, as a charging station. Here's how I did it: I agreed to keep the charge rate to 8amps to avoid overheating/overloading the circuit. I purchased a simple...

teslamotorsclub.com

It's a Strata owned NEMA 5-15 outlet, fed by a 15a breaker. I don't want to trip the breaker, because I don't have access to the panel, and I don't want to risk any circuit damage from continuous high current draw.

I initially charged at 8A/110v but 10A seems safe,

 

[MOE J]

Again you don’t know the future, I say someone will crack the solar market to make it viable for everyone and make billions. The sun ain’t going away, it’s right where it’s always been, sitting waiting with all that power. Only a fool would refuse to harness it

 

[Sophias_dad]

Why not 12A?

1200W is 10 amps at 120v. Charging at 12A(the usual 5-15 rate) would be 1440W (aka DOUBLE what these panels can MAYBE supply, in Arizona at noon in July)

 

[Sophias_dad]

Again you don’t know the future, I say someone will crack the solar market to make it viable for everyone and make billions. The sun ain’t going away, it’s right where it’s always been, sitting waiting with all that power. Only a fool would refuse to harness it

I don't refuse to harness it, I think its just REALLY suboptimal to do it with car mounted solar panels.

 

[Sophias_dad]

That 1200W they are quoting is probably also a bit 'optimistic' at best. From https://gosun.co/pages/ev-solar-charger , we see the solar part of the panels is 43" wide, and the overall extended length is 245". Rounding the 245 down to say 235 for hinges and such, we get to 10,105 sq inches of actual cells. Divide that by 144 to get square feet and we are at 70. Multiply that by the 112W for a square foot of cells, and its 7840w. Full sun, properly inclined to catch it all. To get near 1200, they'll need to get more than 50% more output than that amount of solar cells can do. Sure, maybe they have 10% more effective cell coverage, and they are 10% more efficient, but there's no way whatsoever that that amount of cells is gonna put out 1200W continuous in full sun.

I realize now that my math was wrong. I was using 112W for a square foot of 'ideal' cells, taking every bit of power(both heat and light) that was incident upon that square foot of cells. That 7840 is wildly over the 1200W, so I was a dumbass on that too.

The real power of a square foot of PV solar today is on the order of 20W/sqft, so 70 square feet of those is indeed 1400W, and there's a decent chance in Arizona at noon you'll get 1200W out of it.

Still, count me out. Between the PITA of opening/closing it all the time, the very likely paint damage, the "come vandalize me" appearance of the panels, the extra aero drag with the box on the roof, and the low overall output, its a hard pass.

 

[MOE J]

Or wait a few years when the panel drops down to the size of a small laptop and powers the car for hours while only being in solar exposure for 20 minutes

 

[ucmndd]

Or wait a few years when the panel drops down to the size of a small laptop and powers the car for hours while only being in solar exposure for 20 minutes

Welcome to post-fact society. Just keep saying something and feeling it real hard and it will happen!

Breaking the laws of physics is no longer a material concern.

I eagerly await your prognostications on how cutting edge tech is going to solve our water crisis by using a magic bucket that catches millions of gallons of rain from a 12” opening.

 

[MOE J]

You will see but til then let’s get something more tangible: Halloween update-spook mode-Haunted light show-secret activation phrase “trick or treat Tesla”. There is plenty of time to incorporate this and send it out prior to October—hint hint.