doctorwho
Active Member
CharlesF there's a thread somewhere that looks at the power generated by a rooftop PV panel and it turned out to be minuscule and not worth the added cost. We're better having the PV on our rooftops.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Tesla in Australia
- Thread starter PeterW
- Start date
-
- Tags
- Australia New Zealand
This,
The power generated from a panel the surface area of a car roof is in the order of a few hundred Watts, whereas the power required to push a car is in the order of several thousand Watts. The minimal impact of the panel, compared to the added cost/weight/look just simply isn't worth it.
I've recently helped my dad do an EV conversion to his yacht and we put about 800W of panels on that to (help) charge the batteries, however not many people drive a car once or twice a week for less than an hour (on motor) and leave it in the sun the rest of the time.
I think there was mention of improved seats in the works, but with no mention of when. I would imagine that for a price they would surely update seats for you though.
I don't think there's many people here that doubt Tesla is paving the way for the future, my concern lies in the general lack of enthusiasm (head in sand) for electric transport here in Australia.
TesAus
Member
Hi Charles and welcome.
Elon was questioned on the seats at one of the "town hall" question and answer sessions in Europe and indicated that there are plans for improved seats in the future, but no specific details of when. I believe there would be threads on this forum if you use the search function.
TesAus
Member
When i searched this forum for "seats" there were a number of posts suggesting that the new spring type/arrangement has made the seats much more comfortable. This doesn't of course change the number of adjustments available or side bolstering which were raised as issues by other persons posting.
And elon said it's not quite as easy as changing the seats because then you have to redo all the safety tests.
Imo that means the new seats won't come until model s 2.0 and if I recall correctly elon said the car updates would be 4-5 years apart.
Thanks Guys, to such a fast response by all of you.
I was thinking solar panels on the whole of the roof and not just the sun roof,
Anybody here seen the drawings of the station wagon, imagine the whole roof of the wagon with solar panels.
you only really want recharge the distance you have just travelled, just enough to get back home and not the full charge of the vehicle.
I find it hard to believe that if you go to work say 20kms and leave the car parked for 8 hours it would not charge the battery just a few percent with solar panels on the whole roof.
Still no answer on the regenerative braking which I believe you can adjust the 3 levels in the car, on how far you need to go say on a long down hill gradient of say 5 miles to get 1 mile of recharge.
I still hate the fuel companies and dealer servicing, I service the car myself so I know it has been done correctly.
I hope you guys can answer my questions.
I was thinking solar panels on the whole of the roof and not just the sun roof,
Anybody here seen the drawings of the station wagon, imagine the whole roof of the wagon with solar panels.
you only really want recharge the distance you have just travelled, just enough to get back home and not the full charge of the vehicle.
I find it hard to believe that if you go to work say 20kms and leave the car parked for 8 hours it would not charge the battery just a few percent with solar panels on the whole roof.
Still no answer on the regenerative braking which I believe you can adjust the 3 levels in the car, on how far you need to go say on a long down hill gradient of say 5 miles to get 1 mile of recharge.
I still hate the fuel companies and dealer servicing, I service the car myself so I know it has been done correctly.
I hope you guys can answer my questions.
From watching of videos of the people driving the car, according to the dash, it looks like the peak regen is about 30kW or was it 40? So roughly 0.5kWh for every full 60 seconds of regen.
Mark E
Member
Hi Charles, sunlight hitting the ground/roof/car is about 1kW per m2. Today's panels are generally less than 20% efficient. The efficiency drops quite dramatically depending on the orientation, temperature (hot panels lose output quickly and need to be cooled), and shading. That's why roof mounted arrays are clear of the roof - to allow cooling and maintain the optimum orientation.
You'd be much better off putting panels on your house or garage - the 2 or 3 m2 of roof and bonnet would only give 400-600W of power at maximum output. The output of the panels looks a bit like an inverted parabola - ie starts small, builds to a peak and then curves back down again. You don't get the max output all day. In perfect conditions on a sunny summer day my home system will give 7x it's capacity - 14KWh from a 2kW system. In winter, more like 3x provided it's not raining.
So in summer the car perked in direct sunlight all day- from dawn to dusk - in summer, *may* produce 4kWh at best. More likely 1-2kWh, so 5 or 10 km. The panels would need to be specially constructed - read expensive - for automotive use, and would be heavy. For the same cash put a 2 or 3 kWh system on your roof and offset the car use completely.
Hi Mark E.
Have you seen the documentary "Who killed the Electric car" in It ,it shows a new type of flexible rubber backed solar panel which is only a few mm thick, it comes in a role and you can cut and fit it to any area size or shape you can think of.
the panels you talk about are the old crystalline and thick panels we all know like the ones fitted to roofs .
Follow this link and watch the inventor Stan Ovshinsky explain it.
http://www.oninnovation.org/videos/detail.aspx?video=1446&title=Solar Panels.
The best solution at home would be to have large shed which you can cover both the roof but also the walls with these new thin solar panels and a windmill for those days which are overcast ,charging a whole lot of marine batteries with two 20kw inverters to give you 40kw that can power your house and when necessary also charge your car.
I have seen all the gear on Ebay and would cost you between $15,000 to $20,000 but would save you your yearly electric bill
of say $3,000 to $5,000 to recoupe your costs, and be totally independent from the power company.
Have you seen the documentary "Who killed the Electric car" in It ,it shows a new type of flexible rubber backed solar panel which is only a few mm thick, it comes in a role and you can cut and fit it to any area size or shape you can think of.
the panels you talk about are the old crystalline and thick panels we all know like the ones fitted to roofs .
Follow this link and watch the inventor Stan Ovshinsky explain it.
http://www.oninnovation.org/videos/detail.aspx?video=1446&title=Solar Panels.
The best solution at home would be to have large shed which you can cover both the roof but also the walls with these new thin solar panels and a windmill for those days which are overcast ,charging a whole lot of marine batteries with two 20kw inverters to give you 40kw that can power your house and when necessary also charge your car.
I have seen all the gear on Ebay and would cost you between $15,000 to $20,000 but would save you your yearly electric bill
of say $3,000 to $5,000 to recoupe your costs, and be totally independent from the power company.
timpoo
Member
Dborn
Confirmed
doctorwho
Active Member
timpoo
Member
Don't know the prices yet, have just been told that the prices have been determined and will be released this week. Though with the usual disclaimer that it may get pushed back without notice.
They sounded very confident about this week though!
Dborn I was told just now.
timpoo
Member
As far as I know, service centres will be in Sydney and Melbourne for now.
Supercharger roll out has been met with a giant "?" - ie nobody really knows at this stage. I imagine it would be quite hard as any supercharging network will need to be worked through with an experienced infrastructure development company
FYI - in response to an email requesting that a test drive be set up next time I visit the states I was advised "We could set you up with a test drive in the states, but if you are going to be in Australia we’ll have a test drive car in Melbourne in June and Cary will be on the ground in early May in Melbourne. "
