A Tesla Mannequin Y proprietor received fed up with the corporate not providing photo voltaic panels for its automobiles, so he constructed one himself.
Reddit person somid3 shared his challenge, dubbed Beta One, final week (through Electrek). It is a deployable photo voltaic roof that weighs lower than 165 lbs and may retract when the automobile is in movement. When expanded, the challenge’s web site claims, it suits in a normal parking spot and generates “100% clear and net-positive energy from the solar.”
However what in regards to the vary you really get from this factor? The web site claims that, utilizing 9 175-watt photo voltaic panels, Beta One can add 6kWh to the EV per day, which is about 20 miles of vary, with 5 hours of solar. It is unclear whether or not the vary estimate accounts for the added weight. The web site additionally claims that the photo voltaic panels are “simple to assemble,” and that they are often carried “on all EV rooftops, together with Teslas.”
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Whereas the challenge’s web site even has a goal worth estimate of $4,000, the design nonetheless in a reasonably early stage. In truth, somid3 claims he already has an upgraded, “Beta Two” model within the works, with lowered drag and sleeker profile.
Some EV producers do supply a photo voltaic roof as possibility. This consists of Toyota’s new Prius Prime plug-in hybrid and the corporate’s bZ4X EV, and Fisker Ocean.
As for Tesla, the corporate did promise that Cybertruck can have a photo voltaic roof possibility, but it surely’s not out there at the moment, so the one possibility for homeowners who need extra independence from chargers is a do-it-yourself resolution of some kind.