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Solar Roadways - Working prototype and pictures!
- Thread starter PopSmith
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- Energy Environment Policy
Pilot_51
Member
physicsfita
Member
For most neighborhoods, the crowding probably wouldn't be that big of a deal since most people work when the sun is at its brightest, and their car would be off the street.
Like TEG, I was never quite sold on this idea. Seems to me there's still plenty available roof space that should get attention before we start putting solar panels in the roads, which adds extra costs and engineering challenges. I can see the appeal for one's private driveway or a commercial parking lot. But this isn't the sort of thing I'd put as a high priority for public roads paid for with public funds.
chickensevil
Active Member
They actually discuss the challenges of keeping it clean and how that impacts the solar production on their website. They also list a possible solution in order to help combat those issues, including replacing all the now unneeded snowplow jobs with street sweepers if it really comes down to it.
Doug: given all the other benefits listed, I am almost seeing the solar part as a bonus vice being the main thing. Because there is so much wrong with how we do power distribution, telecommunications, and even the road construction itself that if they were to push this minus the solar piece I would still be all for it!
Doug: given all the other benefits listed, I am almost seeing the solar part as a bonus vice being the main thing. Because there is so much wrong with how we do power distribution, telecommunications, and even the road construction itself that if they were to push this minus the solar piece I would still be all for it!
I can see it going into commercial parking lots. Especially the parking spaces furthest from the Mall since those only seem to get used at Christmas time. It would be a great way for the mall to get income off of land it is paying for.
Some home owners don't have a roof that works well with solar panels...so a solar driveway would open up an option for them.
Some home owners don't have a roof that works well with solar panels...so a solar driveway would open up an option for them.
From the FAQ:
Solar Roadways - FAQ
What are you going to do about traction? What's going to happen to the surface of the Solar Roadways when it rains>
Everyone naturally pictures sliding out of control on a smooth piece of wet glass! Actually, one of our many technical specs is that it be textured to the point that it provides at least the traction that current asphalt roads offer - even in the rain. We hesitate to even call it glass, as it is far from a traditional window pane, but glass is what it is, so glass is what we must call it.We sent samples of textured glass to a university civil engineering lab for traction testing. We started off being able to stop a car going 40 mph on a wet surface in the required distance. We designed a more and more aggressive surface pattern until we got a call form the lab one day: we'd torn the boot off of the British Pendulum Testing apparatus! We backed off a little and ended up with a texture that can stop a vehicle going 80 mph in the required distance.
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So what happens when it snows at night? You surely aren't going to be able to plow on these things.
I guess you pipe in electricity to the panels, and have them heat up and melt the snow? There would have to be a lot of night time generation in the winter in snow country to provide power to keep the roads clear.
Not to mention how these things would hold up to a car roll, or wreck.
I guess you pipe in electricity to the panels, and have them heat up and melt the snow? There would have to be a lot of night time generation in the winter in snow country to provide power to keep the roads clear.
Not to mention how these things would hold up to a car roll, or wreck.
If they're lighting the LEDs at night I'd imagine each unit could store energy somehow
I haven't gone through all their arguments, but (like the Solyndra "panels") my engineering intuition is that the costs outweigh the benefits, given that there are simpler alternatives.
I find it difficult to believe that keeping the roads (or even your driveway) heated in the winter is an efficient use of energy. That surface looks like it would be very loud at speed and probably would cause excessive tire wear. Doesn't look like there's a good way to plow it. The hexagonal units seem too large to reasonably deal with curved surfaces, particularly in the z-axis.
Perhaps, they address all these issues. I don't know.
Seems to me a lot of the advantages they tout could be had cheaper separately. You don't need these panels to put cable trenches and drainage on the side of the road. Low cost sensors can be (and already are) periodically embedded in existing road surfaces. With reflective paint, I feel like the roads already look like Tron when driving at night and there are folks working on glow in the dark road paint.
I find it difficult to believe that keeping the roads (or even your driveway) heated in the winter is an efficient use of energy. That surface looks like it would be very loud at speed and probably would cause excessive tire wear. Doesn't look like there's a good way to plow it. The hexagonal units seem too large to reasonably deal with curved surfaces, particularly in the z-axis.
Perhaps, they address all these issues. I don't know.
Seems to me a lot of the advantages they tout could be had cheaper separately. You don't need these panels to put cable trenches and drainage on the side of the road. Low cost sensors can be (and already are) periodically embedded in existing road surfaces. With reflective paint, I feel like the roads already look like Tron when driving at night and there are folks working on glow in the dark road paint.
They address a few of these questions in the FAQ. They note that the only time the heaters would need to be on is during precipitation and that their first trials with heaters were a bit too hot (that they needed to do more testing as to the right heat amounts). They did note that they had to draw from the grid to heat the panels at night.
There are a lot of questions still in my head. Like Doug, I wondered about rounded surfaces.
Plowing? No freaking way, the plows will completely smash up that glass when they catch the edge (due to settling, etc.) Damage is probably bigger than we think - just look at the number of gouges you see in the roads on your daily commute.
That said, plenty of things get better over time and it just needs to be "good enough" for one application. I'd love to try it on my lane road but I fear the cost would be nearly half a million dollars or more to cover my 500 ft. road. Asphalt is only about 2% of that price. If I could get a price @ 15 year solar payback on the premium above asphalt, I'm there.
We'll know when their final report is due July, 2014. They're required to cover the costs of production and install for their test parking lot.
chickensevil
Active Member
yeah, I think my only major question concern is regarding the bumps on the thing. Sure it might be durable, but what is that in turn going to do to your tires. And then of course increased road noise and comfort due to non-flat surfaces. As long as both of those can be appropriately addressed, I don't have major issue with it at the moment.
Regarding the shape that is actually one of their next immediate project goals is figuring out how to shape them to handle curves in the road. Because hex works great until you need to turn the road. I am afraid that this shape thing will end up being like the space shuttle... where each panel was unique to the shuttle... if that happens, then there goes ANY chance for reduced cost...
Regarding the shape that is actually one of their next immediate project goals is figuring out how to shape them to handle curves in the road. Because hex works great until you need to turn the road. I am afraid that this shape thing will end up being like the space shuttle... where each panel was unique to the shuttle... if that happens, then there goes ANY chance for reduced cost...
santana338
Member
One point I haven't seen covered is the rough dotted road surface and bicycles. While I have no doubt my mountain bike would be just fine on this surface, I think I would be taking my life in my hands with my skinny tire road bike. I just don't know if they are going to be able to come up with a surface that provides enough traction for cars, yet lets smaller wheels like skateboards and roller blades also roll smoothly.
Roads tend to be "temporary" surfaces. They fix potholes, they resurface... The cost/benefits of this scheme will be effected not only by keeping them clean, but also repairing damage. If something heavy falls off a truck... An accident happens... I suspect that there are things that could "break the road".
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Panels along the edge of the road make more sense to me...
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Panels along the edge of the road make more sense to me...
Clprenz
Member
SOLAR FREAKIN' ROADWAYS, Donations NEEDED!!
Hey Everyone! Lets make this happen! This is something I think is really cool!
Solar Roadways | Indiegogo
Just for fun, if you feel comfortable, please post here if you donated and how much (If you feel comfortable!!) just so we can measure the Tesla community impact!
For the mods: I know this isn't really Tesla company related, but can we keep it here for traffic? As I know it will get lost in the dust in the Off topics area!
Hey Everyone! Lets make this happen! This is something I think is really cool!
Solar Roadways | Indiegogo
Just for fun, if you feel comfortable, please post here if you donated and how much (If you feel comfortable!!) just so we can measure the Tesla community impact!
For the mods: I know this isn't really Tesla company related, but can we keep it here for traffic? As I know it will get lost in the dust in the Off topics area!
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