You can now drive around on a Tesla and charge it using printed solar panels [Video]

WHAT’S BEING CLAIMED:

• Prof. Paul Dastoor and his team are planning a road trip on a Tesla in some of the world’s most remote regions.
• This project is called the Charge Around Australia, which is intended to demonstrate that solar panels are the solution for mobile power generation.
• This project is estimated to cover 9,400 miles in 84 days and is expected to include stopovers in schools to introduce and help others see the potential this new technology brings.

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Scientists from Australia and the United Kingdom are planning a 9,400-mile road trip in a Tesla to some of the world’s most remote regions. For this feat, charging the batteries by unrolling a plastic solar panel sheet.

This project is called the Charge Around Australia. It is intended to introduce solar technology and help demonstrate how it can be used to generate renewable energy for off-grid electric car charging on a drive around the coast of the country.

Prof. Paul Dastoor, the person responsible for printed solar panels, said that these locations in Western and Central Australia could be considered the most remote in the world. 

He explained that choosing these locations for the project is a big undertaking, but subjecting these solar panels to the most extreme conditions — with high temperatures, long distances, and minimal water — is the ultimate test to demonstrate its potential role in limiting fossil fuel use and slowing down climate change.

The limiting factor for consumers choosing to buy electric cars is the “range anxiety” and fear that there are limited charging stations. This is on top of electric cars being more expensive. To address these issues, companies have developed portable EV chargers but came up short in some areas: they are slow, expensive, and prone to theft.

These solar panels, which are printed on a machine used to make wine labels, could be the solution to all these problems. These panels are made from transparent solar electrodes laminated in PET plastic and the estimated cost to print these panels is $3.33 per square foot. Prof. Dastoor and his team are able to produce ⅓ of a mile or 0.5 kilometers of solar panel per day.

The project is estimated to last for 84 days and is expected to include stops at around 70 schools to introduce this new technology.

The research team is hoping that Elon Musk will find their research interesting for “showing how our innovative technology is now combining with his developments to develop new solutions for the planet”, Dastoor told Reuters.

Source: Good News Network