Cybertruck Will Distill Water, Hints Musk!

[Administrator]

Did Musk just tip that the Cybertruck will be able to distill water?!

He's been discussing his goal to make quiet home HVAC with HEPA & water distillation system on twitter and followed up with this tweet suggesting that "Maybe Cybertruck will have it …"

Obviously, this feature would be ground breaking in a vehicle and would make the Cybertruck even more useful for overlanding and camping. Imagine powering your campsite with the Cybertruck while distilling water for drinking and cooking.

Tweets:

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[VI Tesla]

Just watched the most recent Third Row podcast and Everyday Astronaut (guest) mentioned a theory that everything Elon is doing relates to living on Mars. Just makes sense.

Cybertruck Mars ute' that:

• has adjustable ride height for all terrains
• armored protection for the martian sand storms
• has solar panels for when you're in a jam. No one wants to get stuck outside up there.
• produces distilled water to keep you hydrated
• has plug in power for martian survey equipment
• kick butt sound system to play Space Oddity

 

[ajdelange]

Why would we want distilled water? To top up the 12V battery?

Now a filtration system that clears cryptosporidium etc. from a mountain stream I can see and given that why not put an RO cartridge in there too but distillation is a messy business (still gets all gunked up with the stuff that gets "removed"). How many places produce pure water with distillation these days? Not many. It's almost all RO in modern applications. I'm not sure but I expect RO requires less energy than distillation too.

 

[davamanra]

Did Musk just tip that the Cybertruck will be able to distill water?!

He's been discussing his goal to make quiet home HVAC with HEPA & water distillation system on twitter and followed up with this tweet suggesting that "Maybe Cybertruck will have it …"

Obviously, this feature would be ground breaking in a vehicle and would make the Cybertruck even more useful for overlanding and camping. Imagine powering your campsite with the Cybertruck while distilling water for drinking and cooking.

Tweets:

That's all fine and dandy, but what upgrades are gonna be necessary to make whiskey!!! ;}

 

[Newton]

Why would we want distilled water? To top up the 12V battery?

Now a filtration system that clears cryptosporidium etc. from a mountain stream I can see and given that why not put an RO cartridge in there too but distillation is a messy business (still gets all gunked up with the stuff that gets "removed"). How many places produce pure water with distillation these days? Not many. It's almost all RO in modern applications. I'm not sure but I expect RO requires less energy than distillation too.

Distillation is near guaranteed pure and theoretically requires just cleaning mineral build up, I might upgrade my truck from the base model to higher if he puts more things like this in it.
reverse osmosis requires replaceable parts. Yes they are extremely long lasting but still. I'd rather be able to clean/fix something than have to replace it.

 

[ajdelange]

Each to his own, of course but distilled water is not pure. That's why if you want pure water in your lab you don't use distilled and if you want pure water from the pharmacy you buy triple distilled. If you want pure water today you go with RO. The cartridges seem to last forever (depending on volume processed - I'm on the original set I got over 15 yrs ago and they are still producing 2 -3 ppm water) but of course only reject about 98% of most minerals and the particulate and carbon filters, there to protect the membranes, are also great for removing bacteria, odors etc. In the CT application there would be additional filters for removing viruses, cryptosporidium cysts etc. If really pure water is wanted RO (which gets typical tap water down to a couple ppm) is followed by ion exchange and that's what labs, reef aquarists, dialysis centers, semiconductor fabricators, brewers etc. do these days.

The main reason that the CT, if it contains water purification gear at all, will not use distillation is energy. It takes 2257 kJ (627 Wh) of energy to boil a litre of water. To get to equivalent to RO purity you'd have to do that 3 times for a total of about 1.9 kWh. To prepare 1 L of RO water my system (I wash my cars with RO) uses 24 kJ (6.67 Wh). It has a 1/2 HP pump.

 

[TyPope]

Distilling water requires a heat and cooling source which makes heat pumps ideal for adaptation. You could just distill the water that condenses from the coils to feed the system. It'd make water without having to add anything. There wouldn't be much, if any, residue as condensed water is pretty pure.

 

[ajdelange]

Have another cup of coffee and review what you wrote when you are awake.

 

[David R Kirkpatrick]

This sounds like a problem in the making. Distilled water is not ideal for nutrition. Any water accumulation, whether in my car or my basement is a potential nightmare. Dry is good in my book.

 

[Cyberpartyboy21]

CT will be the ultimate bug out vehicle/stealth camper. You could actually live and survive for a very long time in this vehicle. It is so much more than just a truck.

 

[func600]

I don’t think he’s building a distillation rig as a separate unit In the truck, it’s just a happy byproduct of a well designed HVAC unit. Here in the tropics, most people run their AC full time in their vehicles, and you can see little puddles of condensed water dripping out of every cars’ AC unit at the stoplights. I think Elon’s plan is to use some clever engineering to collect that distilled water that all cars dump in the street, keep it clean, and store it for consumption or other uses. Why not? It would be very convenient for trips in the outback, and a life saver someplace like Mars. The Cybertruck is shaping up to be an awesome outdoor vehicle; can’t wait for mine.

 

[John K]

Everyone missed the real intention to purify urine for consumption.

 

[ajdelange]

Ahh, finally someone making sense!

 

[Ratso]

I'm hoping that these "add ons" are part of the package and not $$$ extras.

 

[Vassili Montelbon]

I hope this is one of those Elon ideas that actually gets implemented! If I could be out overlanding and have a gallon or 2 of water at the end of the day, that would be a real game changer. Right now, the amount of water I can carry can be the most limiting factor on a trip.