Solar Roadways - Working prototype and pictures!

[Reykjavik]

This has potential, but it comes down to cost. Will this type of integrated system have comparable costs to what we have today?

Putting solar panels, computers, lights, wireless communication, and anything else they decide to throw in there sounds expensive. But if we look at what this system could replace, it looks a lot more plausible. It costs money to maintain the overhead wires, it costs money to build and maintain traditional roads, and it costs money to generate power. Those costs combined are pretty staggering. If we can get this to work, we don't need to send snow removal trucks out every storm. We can be more effective at managing traffic, know damage to the road more quickly, and instead of repaving an entire road because of potholes, just swap out one or two panels as they happen to fail.

I would love to see some analysis of the cost of all those systems just to see what the budget should actually look like for this sort of thing.

 

[santana338]

I looked into this years ago. I'm glad to see they are still working on this idea and are making progress on the design. I'd love to test these tiles out on my driveway (especially if it means I don't have to do snow removal anymore)! Private driveways may be an easier sell than DOTs for asphalt road replacement. You have all the same needs for power generation and distribution, communications, etc. Hmmm. Maybe a shift in marketing is needed?

 

[Robert.Boston]

I agree re private roads. These take less of a beating than public roadways. Think about the acres of parking lots at Walmart et al. -- these could be generating power for the store, and stay clear of snow without paying private contractors to plow.

One feature that's really interesting about these panels is the (re-)configurable lines and signage. I remain concerned about the impact of salt/dirt/etc. on these panels and their connections, though.

 

[ZsoZso]

There is an article on Green car Reports on this:

Could Solar Roads Meet Our Power Needs? Crowdfunding Project Begins

Cost analysis is the most important question. It is definitely a cool idea.

 

[Dan5]

Doesn't Disneyworld have something like this put with pressure?

I thought they had piezoelectric transducers hooked into the surface of the main entrance or something.

Could also work for roads.

 

[RichardC]

Doesn't Disneyworld have something like this put with pressure?

I thought they had piezoelectric transducers hooked into the surface of the main entrance or something.

Could also work for roads.

The energy captured by such transducers would have to be provided by the cars and would likely result in increased rolling resistance and power consumption (it would otherwise be a perpetual motion machine).

 

[davecolene0606]

Definitely lookin for cost figures which they will be out in July. The nice thing is that it can be added to existing surfaces.
Any one have any experience with crowd sourceing? Is it just a donation or do you end up with some kinda stake in it?

 

[ZsoZso]

If you go to the crowdsourcing page linked, you can see that you get some items in acknowledgement of your donation, such as stickers / T-shirt / mug etc. depending on your choice of contribution sum.

 

[chickensevil]

If by stake you mean, like, an investor owns part of the company, then no. You have no stake in it in that fashion.

Basically you are just donating your money to a good cause.

 

[Chrisr400cc]

Solar FREAKIN' Roadways

Solar FREAKIN Roadways! - YouTube

My Wife found this on Dane Cooks Facebook page. Pretty cool. I know someone posted the video on these solar roadways before but this one seemed new and had a Model S at the 1:00 mark in it.

 

[davecolene0606]

Kinda what I thought. Very compelling idea, think I'm in for the coffee mug Wonder what Elon thinks of it?

 

[dhrivnak]

I see roadways being resurfaced all the time either due to wear or settling. It seems to me it would be far cheaper to add solar to roof tops. Many have the needed tilt, the panels do not need to stand up to 80,000 lb trucks and most homes need the electricity. So unless I am missing something big I just do not see where this would fly. Let's first pick that low hanging fruit and put panels on everyone's roof. Then if we still need more power look at other alternatives. But why start with a more expensive alternative?

 

[chickensevil]

I see roadways being resurfaced all the time either due to wear or settling. It seems to me it would be far cheaper to add solar to roof tops. Many have the needed tilt, the panels do not need to stand up to 80,000 lb trucks and most homes need the electricity. So unless I am missing something big I just do not see where this would fly. Let's first pick that low hanging fruit and put panels on everyone's roof. Then if we still need more power look at other alternatives. But why start with a more expensive alternative?

I think it is because they are trying to make it more than just power generation. You would essentially rework the entire countries outdated power grid, fully wire the country for fiber, remove the need to ever have to use snow plows again, remove the need to ever have to paint the roads again. It makes repair much quicker and replacement a breeze, with the entire road system being pressurized and LED for lighting this opens the door to so many applications like traffic patterns, you could repaint the lines on the fly if you had say an accident on the road in order to merge traffic and route people around, anything gets on the road it could alert the driver, really endless possibilities here... The fact that it doesn't use any oil AND generates power is really icing on the cake.

and I don't think you realize how expensive roads are in the first place... If they can make this at current road cost per square foot, there is no reason not to... Even if it is slightly more expensive... There is still almost no reason not to do it... Because it would pay for itself. There is already crazy money budgeted for roads... They don't budget for solar on your roof.

its like the Tesla, it is such a great car in so many ways, that the electric part almost becomes an afterthought... Oh, by the way, it is all electric. Same thing here.

 

[ZsoZso]

Asphalt cracks and need to be resurfaced every 2-3 years on heavily used roads. The idea is that if this strong-glass surface can last 20-30 years under the same wear, then it can cost 10x as much and still be worth the switch due to the added utilities such as solar power, LED signs, snow melting built-in.

 

[Jaff]

After this past winter, it would be a great to have a driveway constructed of these panels!

 

[yobigd20]

ok THAT is REALLY FREAKIN COOL. I want for my driveway.

 

[ZsoZso]

Thre is an old (but still active) thread about it already:
Solar Roadways - Working prototype and pictures!!

 

[AnOutsider]

Absolutely want. Forget panels on the roof or in the field, have my driveway power my home. I hope they reach their goal. I donated and shared.

 

[yobigd20]

Absolutely want. Forget panels on the roof or in the field, have my driveway power my home. I hope they reach their goal. I donated and shared.

ok so imagine a neighborhood where every driveway has these. then imagine either every home either doesn't have a garage, or you have a 2 car garage and you also have 2 kids w\ 2 additional cars. gonna be a crowded street, lol. everybody is going to be parking on the road instead of their driveways because else they'd be "losing money" during the day. (I still love the idea, and I would still put them in my driveway...but I'd be telling the kids to park on the street or pay me a metering fee per usage of parking in the driveway HAHA). no sense in paying for a $50k driveway (guessimate) if you aren't able to take full advantage of it.

 

[AnOutsider]

Yeah, it might not be for everyone. I've got a fairly long driveway, and we park all cars in the garage, so wouldn't be an issue for me. Folks in the situations described above may not even be the type to consider something like this for residential usage.