CT Solar - Cost Estimations/etc

[John K]

Cost to produce does not necessary equate price. I believe the price point will be what the market will bear as long as it is at least 4x cost to add solar.

caveat, pure opinion, not in the know, don’t buy stock on my advice.

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[jerhenderson]

True, but you also cant charge if you vehicle is in a shaded area or if you are not parked in an optimal angle for solar collection you can charge poorly. If you are trying to stretch out an extra 10 miles per day (assuming the above don't interfere) and its not a cost issue or savings issue, then hey go for it for sure.

Financially, all I am saying is collecting the energy from a stationary and well positioned location such as a home roof is going to give you more bang for the buck and if you produce more than you should use with your vehicle, then that goes toward offsetting the homes electrical needs as well.

I am sure there is a ton of edge cases such as prolonged camping, and such where the costs for mobile solar could be justified.

All of the above assumes you own a home and are not a renter so there is a caveat to my madness.

the panel will charge in the shade and in indirect sunlight - not ideally of course but they will. Solar panels don't need direct sunlight only to generate power.

 

[Crissa]

And you can always move the truck around. I have access to two spots it'll fit in, which are 90° from each other, so I can face it in all four cardinal directions. Most parking lots have choice of several directions. When you camp you can almost always rotate by quite a bit, especially when in primitive camps where you'd want it the most.

-Crissa

 

[Ogre]

Financially, all I am saying is collecting the energy from a stationary and well positioned location such as a home roof is going to give you more bang for the buck and if you produce more than you should use with your vehicle, then that goes toward offsetting the homes electrical needs as well.

Even if it’s just a couple grand, the amount of juice a built in solar setup can offer will never break even on a $/ kWh basis. This is a convenience feature. If you are sure you can park within 20’ of a power outlet every night, there is little point.

On the Aptera it’s a lot more interesting because its so much more efficient. It still likely never pays off, but you may have the genuine possibility of only having to plug in when you are going on long road trips.

FWIW, the most expensive solar option on the Aptera is $900. Under $1000 on the Cybertruck makes it an instant buy just so I never have to worry about parking and having the battery drain after being parked for a few days.

 

[Ogre]

And you can always move the truck around. I have access to two spots it'll fit in, which are 90° from each other, so I can face it in all four cardinal directions. Most parking lots have choice of several directions. When you camp you can almost always rotate by quite a bit, especially when in primitive camps where you'd want it the most.

-Crissa

I’m pretty sure Musk said robotaxi will select solar optimized parking automatically.

 

[Crissa]

Just think, Cybertrucks clustering on the sunny edges of parking lots, selecting the roof of parking garages, like little social beetles.

-Crissa

 

[John K]

Go out to the truck… it’s gone… meanwhile

CT gang roving the streets and off-road paths looking for premium sun rays.

 

[Ogre]

Go out to the truck… it’s gone… meanwhile

CT gang roving the streets and off-road paths looking for premium sun rays.

I’m just worried my Cybertruck will wander off into the desert and piss off the locals.

 

[Qball]

the panel will charge in the shade and in indirect sunlight - not ideally of course but they will. Solar panels don't need direct sunlight only to generate power.

I have solar on my house and portable solar panels for camping, only 2x100w
for camping but since I’m a nerd I instrumented just about everything. As soon as even angle of the panel is off by 15 degrees generation drops 50-60%. If shade blocks even 1 or 2 cells fully generation of the entire serially connected array drops 80%. In the shade generation drops by 99%. In the shade there is barely enough electricity to keep instruments powered.

yes, you can do thin strips of panel
and wire them into an array of some kind but it’s very tricky to do and costly. You can’t connect them in serial so it will likely be combination of parallel and serial arrays. Not impossible but increase the cost of solar controllers a good amount not to mention manufacturing challenges of small parts and as extra steps to glue them together. Last time I checked Tesla is all about reducing number of parts and complexity. And depends on the array configuration it’s near impossible unless you live in the sunshine state and park with no shade can the cover generate any reasonable amount of electricity.


Shade is solar’s biggest enemy! I would rather see them insolation the cover more than anything else.

 

[CyberGus]

We can’t change/cheat physics

Physics is the law
Everything else is a recommendation

 

[Tinker71]

Solar Cover is one of my favorite options that will be available, and will most definitely get if the price is right. So let's do some math (very rough estimates, get ready!) haha

Musk says cover will gain about 15 miles/day (likely for dual motor)

1.
So how many KWh is 15 miles for the CT which we do not know the battery size yet.
We do know:
Model S Plaid: est .32 kWh/mile curb weight 4766
F150 Lightning: est .46-.50 (call it .48) kwh/mile curb weight: 6500
CT is "mid-sized" so will have a weight of 5000-6500, and superior batteries compared to the F150
so let's say .40 kwh/mile
.40 kwh/mile x 15 miles = 6 kwh/day generated (that's a 120 kwh battery pack, which seems right from estimates I've seen for dual motor)

average usable solar per day nationally is 5-6 hours (say 5.5), that's 1100 watts per hour (size of the array would be 1.1 kwhr)
current tesla panels are $2.01 /watt $2.01 x 1100 = $2211 (An exciting number, but one I believe is quite low)
It's unlikely that the CT solar will be that low $/watt.
Doing a quick estimate on my own house, solar roof is about $3.30/watt so lets use that
$3.30 x 1100 = $3630 (still a reasonable $ IMO, and probably more likely than 2211)
Now, the solar alone from that same estimate is $1.80/watt, $1.80 x 1100 = $1980 (Which would be S3XY)

2.
Here's the issue
Looking at the size of the cover (estimate it 32 sqft, 5.5 ft x 5.8 ft )
solar roof is 6 watts/sqft installed = 192 watts
panel is 18 watt/sqft installed = 576 watts
now these are installed, so looking at the dimensions of the panel via the spec sheet, I estimate you could fit 2 x 425 watt panels into that space (850 watts)
still 250 watts short

These are all estimates and all for fun of course. No doubt Musk will pull it off, I just don't see it being less than 5K.

My ROCC concept (patent pending) would have up to 800 watts of solar available all the time with an estimate price of $10,000. You get sleeping for 2-4 and a kitchen/shower/changing area to boot. (Search the site for ROCC) I have posted a couple times.

If anybody is interested in a partnership please message me for details. I mostly want it built.

 

[happy intruder]

I’d be quite happy if they just added some charging ports I could plug my own panels into. In a lot of ways thats preferable.

I take anything that wasn’t presented on launch night and shown on the spec sheet with a huge grain of salt. The 4 wheel steering is a lock in at least as an option, anything else don’t hold your breath. Musk tends to be very seat of his pants on Twitter.

I agree......it seems like all the "new items showing up" will be options is ok by me, but if they make them standard, it just might price some of us out of the CT game.....wonder how much add cost it is going to be with 4 wheel steering..........looks like with all of that, the true cost to buyers will be much more than reveal night pricing......but as others have said, the reveal price will more than likely be correct but it might get you moved further back in line because Elon want the top of the truck with all options produced first.....so basic guys will be push out....JMHO

 

[happy intruder]

Plastic solar panels are pretty durable. And with steel slats behind them? Darn near indestructible.

I don't get the 'I can put them on my house' argument.

I can't put solar panels in the street. I can't even put them over my parking space (too close to transmission wires). I can't charge from stationary panels when I'm on the road.

-Crissa

yea, nice home owner association rules......been there done it

 

[Crissa]

You can’t connect them in serial so...

Yes, you can. Panels are collections of solar cells in serial. You can connect panels in serial within their rating (My camping set puts 4 in serial to generate a hundred volts that's cross converted by my MPPT system)

Shade is sola’s biggest enemy! I would rather see them insolation the cover more than anything else.

It is, but it depends on the cell and the configuration. Monocrystalline cells become highly resistive in shade, which means if one cell in the chain on a panel is shaded, it drops the whole panels' output. Amorphous, for instance, don't have that resistance issue and shade doesn't affect their output as much. (They don't have the same peak, either, but will produce more in dappled shade tha monocrystalline).

There's just lots of possibilities out there. And when you're buying them wholesale, you get to choose the configuration of cells, and so it's not more expensive than buying pre-configured panels.

yea, nice home owner association rules......been there done it

Naw, this is universal building code. I can't just cover the street, it's not mine. And they have to be able to fix the lines so I can't encroach upon the power lines/pole!

-Crissa

 

[Ogre]

I agree......it seems like all the "new items showing up" will be options is ok by me, but if they make them standard, it just might price some of us out of the CT game.....wonder how much add cost it is going to be with 4 wheel steering..........looks like with all of that, the true cost to buyers will be much more than reveal night pricing......but as others have said, the reveal price will more than likely be correct but it might get you moved further back in line because Elon want the top of the truck with all options produced first.....so basic guys will be push out....JMHO

I really don’t see how this works. Just because you decide you want to make a better truck, doesn’t mean you can change the deal.

Have people done pre-orders where someone just arbitrarily changed the price after the fact? I’ve never heard of such a thing happening. I know the contract says the price is just an estimate. But you don’t give someone an estimate, then increase the scope of the project and charge them more. I’m not even sure that’s legal.

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