Solar tonneau

[highnote1]

Question for all?

Quickly glanced at the solar cover on their own site. Seems to me the deal would be to have that thing charge your truck….sign me up! But it appears it is just a solar cover for charging a battery. Anyone know?
That would be an Aptera type bonus if you parked it at work all day and made up for the mileage it took to get to work. Anyone have any ideaa on what that would take? Major selling point if possible.

 

[ElectricShitbox]

It charges a battery bank, but you could then charge the truck (a little) from that.
Here's the manufacturer
https://www.worksport.com/products/solis

 

[highnote1]

Wonder if some clever rewiring of the outgoing power could plug into nacs port when you go into work? Take my money!

 

[ElectricShitbox]

Wonder if some clever rewiring of the outgoing power could plug into nacs port when you go into work? Take my money!

You would need to convert the dc from the solar cells into ac to use the onboard charger, or step up the dc to pack voltage with a box that can also speak NACS.

Or you can charge an off the shelf battery bank and then plug in a normal EVSE.

 

[FloppaEnjoyer8067]

Question for all?

Quickly glanced at the solar cover on their own site. Seems to me the deal would be to have that thing charge your truck….sign me up! But it appears it is just a solar cover for charging a battery. Anyone know?
That would be an Aptera type bonus if you parked it at work all day and made up for the mileage it took to get to work. Anyone have any ideaa on what that would take? Major selling point if possible.

You'll never be able to make up driving losses from charging your car with solar. If you look up Solar Vehicle Challenege, it is a college design project where students design a car to run on solar. Even then, they only get about a fraction of their required energy from solar (~25% IIRC). Most of the energy is from charging w/ a diesel generator at night.

The SOLIS generates 600W peak, so you'd get 2 miles/hr of charging (assuming 3.3 mi/kWh)

 

[jmason]

SEV is a pipe dream for me. Aptera, in their latest video on it, shows gains of a little more than 4kwh with plenty of sun and repositioning the vehicle during the day. The tonneau cover would be hard pressed to come close to that. Remember that Aptera is claiming 10 miles per 1kwh so they are hitting their spec of ’40 miles of solar charging per day!’* *arid cloudless conditions required

 

[adele]

It’s a novelty item, really. You’ll gain a tiny bit of power from the sun, and you’ll lose a tiny bit of efficiency from the added weight on your truck.

The value of it is entirely in the bragging rights and the coolness factor. Which is valid, it is very cool.

 

[highnote1]

I just think, 12 mile round trip to work, maybe 16 miles solar gained in an 8 hour work day? Never charge in a work week!

 

[The Weatherman]

Wonder if some clever rewiring of the outgoing power could plug into nacs port when you go into work? Take my money!

It’s called Everdrive. Look it up on YouTube. The guys building it are legit engineers and Ford Lightning guys.

 

[FloppaEnjoyer8067]

I just think, 12 mile round trip to work, maybe 16 miles solar gained in an 8 hour work day? Never charge in a work week!

With ideal conditions and 100% efficient charging and DCDC conversion. Running off data I have for power tool batteries, it's about 80% efficient. Maybe possible. ROI is 19400 hours of charging...

 

[jonboy108]

If and when I get the slate (Apr-June window) it will live in Florida and likely will stay outside in the sun (I can hear the wrap degrading as I type) it would be a boon to have it solar charging all day while it sits, plus charging while I drive. Panels on top of the SUV roof? I already live in a solar powered community (Babcock Ranch) but every little bit of sun power is welcome, yes?

 

[GrizzlysGhost]

If and when I get the slate (Apr-June window) it will live in Florida and likely will stay outside in the sun (I can hear the wrap degrading as I type) it would be a boon to have it solar charging all day while it sits, plus charging while I drive. Panels on top of the SUV roof? I already live in a solar powered community (Babcock Ranch) but every little bit of sun power is welcome, yes?

Solis covers are available in the Maker. I think the idea would be to connect your Slate to the Solar Generator (I have a different one than being sold here), and have the panels keep the Generator charged. The panels don't connect directly to the Slate, but you can charge the Slate through the Generator, if I'm making any sense. VERY SLOW charging, but still "free" energy. Just FYI

 

[sodamo]

Love the concept, but expensive for little power

 

[MetalManTN]

I just think, 12 mile round trip to work, maybe 16 miles solar gained in an 8 hour work day? Never charge in a work week!

Same here. 13 mile round trip for me each day. A solar cover that charges the truck would be awesome!

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Same here. 13 mile round trip for me each day. A solar cover that charges the truck would be awesome!

...one might even say it's Freaking Nuts