Musk references Solar Power Option and Solar Wings

[Administrator]

Musk tweeted today that there will be a solar power option for the Cybertruck that can generate enough energy to drive to drive 15 miles (maybe more) per day. And adding fold out solar wings would generate 30-40 miles per day.

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[JBee]

That will be awesome. It has the right shape for it...flat. Just have to park the vehicle with the rear towards the sun. (Auto tracking would be awesome )

Technically we should be able to derive the Wh/km consumption figure from that as well, if it's accurate, given we know the size of the rear of the truck to be around 4m². That would work out to be about 700W of premium solar just on the back, which on average in Texas would make around 5kWh a day on average (3.8-7kWh day). So that's around 333Wh/mile or 208Wh/km, which is really impressive for a vehicle of that size and shape, let alone wheels and clearance etc.

I really hope there is a vehicle to vehicle or house charging option, that also allows for household PV to charge directly rather than via a inverter. That would support off-grid housing.

 

[Tango]

This would be game changing for the "but where you gonna plug it in when camping/off road?" crowd. I would love to see the sail panels store additional wings to deploy.

 

[cybrtrk]

and make all windows transparent solar glass

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme...d-make-every-window-and-screen-a-power-source

 

[JBee]

I think you'd be better off using a PV cell that absorbs more light, ie one that is black, to produce more power. The area is already small enough so installing low efficiency cells (those are currently 1% compared to 22%) would help very much at all. Interesting tech, but probably better put to use in another application.

 

[stumby]

So how long would it take to charge the solar panel so that it has enough power for the 15 miles daily?

And I'm with @JBee I'd love to see vehicle-to-vehicle charging.

 

[JBee]

Sadly all day. Thats why EM hasn't adopted solar on his EV's yet. One other way of using solar is like on the prius to ventilate the car on hot days to reduce A/C load when you get in. But I'd get the solar option for camping etc either way.

 

[HiTeKReDNeK]

ideally there would be a solar roof/tonneau cover with an “off the grid“ option that included a fold out awning that was also solar. This would go very well with the camping set up they modeled.

I would also like to see a Tesla trailer that had included battery/regenerative braking for extended range and solar as well.

 

[dano0726]

And that small pull-behind trailer could double as a "residence" battery pack when the power goes out...