Elon Reconfirms Production Cybertruck Will be Around 3% Smaller. Factory Delivery / Pick Up Will Be Available!

[Crissa]

Solar panels would last the lifetime of the vehicle. They're usually counted as paying back over decades. The average car lasts 12 years.

And no, you can't just 'plug it in' anywhere you want to use it. That's the point. The vast majority of parking lots have no electrified spaces.

And what price is a gallon jerry can that's always full once a day?

Those calculations say it's worth 2-3 thousand dollars, easy.

-Crissa

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[TheLastStarfighter]

Solar panels would last the lifetime of the vehicle. They're usually counted as paying back over decades. The average car lasts 12 years.

And no, you can't just 'plug it in' anywhere you want to use it. That's the point. The vast majority of parking lots have no electrified spaces.

And what price is a gallon jerry can that's always full once a day?

Those calculations say it's worth 2-3 thousand dollars, easy.

-Crissa

Why don't you just put an extra solar panel on your house?

 

[CompMaster]

The vast majority of parking lots have no electrified spaces

I believe in the UK they converters all light poles into EV chargers. If they do that in other countries that will help with some parking spots.

 

[firsttruck]

I have some reasons too.

The solar panels on Cybertruck are for when NOT home or NOT at business that has charging.

For example.

Leaving car at airport for 1-2 weeks. Might be vacation but also I have done for business trips.

Camping out in wilderness area for weeks ( NO grid, NO chargers)
Do not want to use noisy & polluting generator.

Parked at work all day but work will not install chargers. Remaining charge from trip to work plus 10-15 miles extra is enough to get back home.

Solar panels on Cybertruck are worth more than just .30/KWH.
Many people live in sunny climates but spend a lot of time where there is NO chargers.

 

[Crissa]

Why don't you just put an extra solar panel on your house?

I suppose if I were carrying my house to where the truck is... Or where the sun is.

Have I mentioned my house is under the redwoods?

Do you usually carry your house with you when you use your truck?

-Crissa

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

Lets say that the solar tonneau isn't going to work out in a cost effective way for a lot of people (me included as I live in the fog belt of northern california), but maybe this wiz-bang trailer that Elon Musk was talking about will have folding solar arrays that could do the job. Something to consider. Even my wife says that would be a great thing to have (sometimes it is hard to predict what she will like).

 

[CompMaster]

Lets say that the solar tonneau isn't going to work out in a cost effective way for a lot of people (me included as I live in the fog belt of northern california), but maybe this wiz-bang trailer that Elon Musk was talking about will have folding solar arrays that could do the job. Something to consider. Even my wife says that would be a great thing to have (sometimes it is hard to predict what she will like).

Correct panels on top and batteries on the belly/floor. If it doesn't have it then install myself. I'm wondering if this is also why they finally created there own solar panels released earlier later year. To be as in-house and vertically integrated as possible.

 

[BillyGee]

A short rebuttal.
Solar electricity is the cheapest energy in human history.
You don't know what the solar tonneau would cost.
If the economics work out for a larger array, why don't they work for a smaller array?

I'd argue that nuclear outstrips solar in terms of price, efficiency and return on investment. Solar is great, it's just an expensive front end energy cost for breaking even over the lifespan of most panels. Still preferable to gas by a long margin. However until people learn to love nuclear we probably won't ever get that 0.02¢ energy price in our lifetimes.

I don't know what the cover would cost, but Tesla charges over a grand for upgraded wheels instead of just charging the difference. I'd expect it to be a premium feature, so I think my guess of $3k or more is reasonable.

Solar also plays into one of Elon's favorite expressions, "economy of scale". A shared inverter across many panels will always reduce loss over a single inverter on a small array, so micro-arrays are useful for really small consumption accomodations, like gates and emergency phones, but on the CT will just be a passive drip charge at best.

Solar panels would last the lifetime of the vehicle. They're usually counted as paying back over decades. The average car lasts 12 years.

And no, you can't just 'plug it in' anywhere you want to use it. That's the point. The vast majority of parking lots have no electrified spaces.

And what price is a gallon jerry can that's always full once a day?

Those calculations say it's worth 2-3 thousand dollars, easy.

-Crissa

Even extrapolation out to 12 years makes the system barely break even over my assumed cost.

I think I wasn't clear enough. I was saying that if your car is just parked in the driveway you can just plug it in on 110 and get better results for far cheaper than the solar tonneau. Even if you're in a remote location it's far cheaper to get a portable panel and if it in. Sure, it's not as convenient as it being built in, but it's probably about a 10th the price and there's plenty of youtube videos of people trickle charging a tesla with DIY panels.

I don't think a jerry can is an analogous comparison. I don't know of any jerry can that refills itself, and even if it did I'm not sure if trust putting whatever is in there into a fuel tank, haha. It'll be great in a pinch or for camping because so long as you have sun you can limp a few more miles out or have climate control to survive the night. Again though, a field solar kit under the back seat will get you more miles for less money. I may just do that for my emergency kit in the CT.

All I was trying to illustrate in my post was that economically it is a bit of a stretch for a solar tonneau to wash out. If you an to drive your CT for 30 years (like I do), then it's worth it even up to exorbitant costs. If money is no object and you can put the environment first, awesome. If you just want it because it's cool, I agree and I also want it.

The business man in me doesn't see the long term benefit for a fleet though, which is what I think ol Musky was saying in his remarks.

 

[Crissa]

Nuclear power doesn't count any legal liability, cost overruns, waste disposal, and you can't carry it with you.

The comparison is with being able to carry the energy with you. Your own calculations shows that it pays off in five years, so why are you saying it doesn't?

Also, if they don't plan for this internal charge management, then you won't be able to have charging trailers without major alterations.

-Crissa

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

I suppose if I were carrying my house to where the truck is... Or where the sun is.

Have I mentioned my house is under the redwoods?

Do you usually carry your house with you when you use your truck?

-Crissa

Your shady situation aside, why would I take my house with me when the truck has more than enough charge to last the day?

 

[Crissa]

Your shady situation aside, why would I take my house with me when the truck has more than enough charge to last the day?

Personally, I want to take the truck further than I can drive in a day.

-Crissa

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

Personally, I want to take the truck further than I can drive in a day.

-Crissa

If you're looking at a 250 CT1 range, I'm sure you can drive a lot farther than 250 miles in a day and an extra 10 miles or so from a solar panel wouldn't make much difference. You'd need to stop and charge regardless. If the 10 miles does make a difference, it would seem to be better for Telsa to invest in a bigger battery for you than solar trickle charging.

 

[Crissa]

If you're looking at a 250 CT1 range...

...And charging on the road is not the same as having power off it. I have affixed solar for my trips for the last fifteen years.

-Crissa

 

[Bill906]

However until people learn to love nuclear we probably won't ever get that 0.02¢ energy price in our lifetimes.

$0.02 = 2¢ ≠ 0.02¢

Did you mean 2 cents, or 2 hundreths of a cent?

Sorry, I have a bit of a pet peeve with units. Had quite a discussion at a Burger King a long time ago that was advertising 0.99¢ Whoppers.

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