Solar range extender prototype

[swengl]

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-solar-powered-range-extender-trailer-starlink-prototype-photo/

Something like this for the CT, perhaps or just a tonneau with solar panels built in? If they can reduce the weight and make it durable and easy to deploy, I'd love to see this as an option.

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[samroy92]

9 panels at 300W each puts this at 2.7kW peak output. At 5 good usable sun hours per day that puts us at 13.5kWh of energy per day.

Assuming CT is 400wh/mi == 2.5 miles per kWh:
- 13.5kWh * 2.5 miles/kWh = 33.75 miles per day.

 

[Deleted member 5322]

9 panels at 300W each puts this at 2.7kW peak output. At 5 good usable sun hours per day that puts us at 13.5kWh of energy per day.

Assuming CT is 400wh/mi == 2.5 miles per kWh:
- 13.5kWh * 2.5 miles/kWh = 33.75 miles per day.

Or you can almost double your numbers of hours for Cali and AZ which makes it even more interesting

 

[FutureBoy]

Interesting... Would be even more interesting if the panels could be used as a "roof" over the rear slanting portion of the CT (over the passenger seats and truck bed). That way we don't have as much weight as the trailer to deal with, probably less of a hit to aerodynamics, and we are rid of the whole trailer which will make driving simpler.

We have already seen a number of people with designs for pop-up tents etc. If these solar wings could be used as a roof for the pop-ups, even better.

If the solar trailer is the only way to go, I hope the bottom half of the trailer is a very large battery pack that can at least double the range of the CT. When we pull into a supercharger station, we would ideally be able to charge the trailer and the CT at the same time. And I am sure hoping that the batteries in the trailer can be assisting the CT while the CT is in motion. I'm not asking for the solar wings to be "out" while driving though as that would be a total accident waiting to happen.

Or if the solar panels can be lifted a bit more on the trailer so that there is room to install a pop-up tent, with some storage and and a camp kitchen that would also be awesome. That way the range extension can be used only on the long trips.

 

[FutureBoy]

Another option would be for the solar, the trailer, the extended battery, to all be mix and match.

So the solar could be installed above the trailer, as a roof over a pop-up, as an attachment over the CT bed and passenger area.

The extended battery, could be in a trailer under the solar panels, or in a work trailer, or in a camper trailer, etc. Or possibly even in the bed of the CT.

The trailer could be a box trailer like is shown above, it could have a pop-up camp tent with storage and kitchen, or it could be a fifth-wheel tow trailer like this:

Basically, if the 3 parts are kept as separate but configurable products that can be used together or with other 3rd party extensions, we would be able to have a very ideal setup that was individualized to each use case that the user wanted.

 

[Ogre]

If this had a bit of battery capacity, some storage, and could charge the truck it would be awesome for camping.

 

[fritter63]

If this had a bit of battery capacity, some storage, and could charge the truck it would be awesome for camping.

Yeah, make that an overland trailer with camp kitchen, etc. Only 33 miles/day? Add that up over a week of sitting there in camp (or using it to power stoves, etc). Hell, could even help to power a small space heater for the tent.

 

[JBee]

I doubt very much that is something from Tesla itself...someone just parked it at their stand.

It's just sitting on a standard off the shelf box trailer you can pickup from a hardware store. Also Starlink placement on a trailer is fairly useless IMHO, let alone will shade the panels at twice a day in the summer.

 

[azjohn]

What's the price? under $40K?

 

[Crissa]

9 panels at 300W each puts this at 2.7kW peak output. At 5 good usable sun hours per day that puts us at 13.5kWh of energy per day.

Assuming CT is 400wh/mi == 2.5 miles per kWh:
- 13.5kWh * 2.5 miles/kWh = 33.75 miles per day.

That's the average day in the upper latitudes. Not whatever day you're using them, and there's no idea how much battery it could carry.

-Crissa

 

[swengl]

That's the average day in the upper latitudes. Not whatever day you're using them, and there's no idea how much battery it could carry.

-Crissa

As much as the CT will sit in my driveway (out in the open), 30+ miles of charge / day would keep me from having to plug in at all unless I were taking a long trip. I really want to see a solar charging option, even if it were just the tonneau and it added 15+ miles / day average. If Tesla were to incorporate transparent panels into the roof/windshield, that could squeeze out a few additional miles of range per day. If the trailer did not include any battery storage, what do you think would be the right price? 8-10K? It would be really easy to sell multiple options: with or without on-board battery storage, different panel configurations (type, max wattage, etc), built-in inverter and battery controller (to use as a charging/power station for power tools/camping).

 

[TyPope]

While the trailer may be able to add 30 miles a day, how many miles would you lose hauling it? I'll bet you would lose more than it could make on all but the longest boondoggles. If you were to be camping for a week, for instance. If the trailer dropped your range by 20%, you'd lose 100 miles of range. I'd take about 4 days to make that up.

 

[Crissa]

While the trailer may be able to add 30 miles a day, how many miles would you lose hauling it?

Being as it has its own batteries...

-Crissa

 

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[Ogre]

While the trailer may be able to add 30 miles a day, how many miles would you lose hauling it? I'll bet you would lose more than it could make on all but the longest boondoggles. If you were to be camping for a week, for instance. If the trailer dropped your range by 20%, you'd lose 100 miles of range. I'd take about 4 days to make that up.

Depends on how long you stay at your destination. Also it is a range extending trailer which presumably has battery capacity to extend your range.

I find it mostly interesting if it has some additional utility though.

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