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.
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
How many of those panels does it take to charge the Tesla? How are they stored while the car is in motion? Can you drive and charge at the same time? If not, how much down time is required to leave with a full charge?
About 200 sq ft of panels ( crudely 15ft X 15 ft) will be needed assuming:
1 Standard solar efficiency
2. Only 100 miles per day
3. 1 hour recharge..
Only 20 sq ft for 10 hrs recharge ( 4ft X 5 ft)
That 200 square feet is not that big– 1 10 X 20 or 2 5 X 20. Now, plan your trip so you have a charging stop late midmorning and again midafternoon for an at least 2 hour charge, you might be able to get between Reno and Las Vegas in a day, using no commercial power for recharge.
That’s barely 111 miles PER DAY! And who’s going to pull over on a highway and unroll 35-40 feet or so of solar panel?
What do you do on a cloudy, rainy, or snowy day? Hibernate?
Nice demo, but totally unrealistic.
You could probably go further with a bit of a breeze and a sail.
How will work in foggy London town?