I put solar panels on my tonneau cover!

[hajalie24]

Hey guys, excited to show off my recent project, solar panels on a tonneau cover!



Happy to answer any questions. I get 2+ kWh a day and now always have cold drinks wherever I go!

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[jeep2liberty]

What do you have invested in this project?
Interesting.

 

[hajalie24]

What do you have invested in this project?
Interesting.

Umm I plead the fifth...

I did put prices in the video then stopped counting lol

It was probably under 1k total with fridge and all before I decided to upgrade the batteries

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Umm I plead the fifth...

I did put prices in the video then stopped counting lol

It was probably under 1k total with fridge and all before I decided to upgrade the batteries

Ahhh the cost of hobbies and curiosity!

At a national average of $0.17/kWh you should be able to break even in 2-3 trucks max.

 

[jeep2liberty]

Umm I plead the fifth...

I did put prices in the video then stopped counting lol

It was probably under 1k total with fridge and all before I decided to upgrade the batteries

Any concerns that the adhesive would let loose and put one of those panels in a Lane of traffic? I'd suggest periodic inspections to assure they stay put.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Any concerns that the adhesive would let loose and put one of those panels in a Lane of traffic? I'd suggest periodic inspections to assure they stay put.

There’s a good amount of body panels (side skirts, trim, and spoilers that utilize 3M auto adhesive from the factory. As long as there appropriately cleaned when applying they should be fine.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

After a few years of trying to make them last, I’ve given up on flexible solar panels. They generate and trap a lot of heat between the mounting surface and the panel. Please check your panels regularly to ensure they’re not melting themselves or any of the underlying surface. It looks like most of your tonneau is some sort of metal, but there appears to be some plastic there as well.

 

[Grumpy2]

I think you should consider expanding the system, consider solar panels on satellites.

The panels are as you have them when moving, but once stopped they unfold and deploy into a working array. Now that would get you clicks.

 

[Joe Lightning]

Hey guys, excited to show off my recent project, solar panels on a tonneau cover!



Happy to answer any questions. I get 2+ kWh a day and now always have cold drinks wherever I go!

Cool project, but not something I would do, just doesn't produce enough energy for the work involved and I want full use of my bed without dealing with the wiring, batteries and having to remove the tonneau cover. I think the manufacturers should build something like that into the vehicle, so that the vehicle would at least trickle charge itself when parked in the sun. I guess they don't do it cause they wouldn't want to have the warranty exposure to a system like that. Loved the video though, great Job!

 

[hajalie24]

Cool project, but not something I would do, just doesn't produce enough energy for the work involved and I want full use of my bed without dealing with the wiring, batteries and having to remove the tonneau cover. I think the manufacturers should build something like that into the vehicle, so that the vehicle would at least trickle charge itself when parked in the sun. I guess they don't do it cause they wouldn't want to have the warranty exposure to a system like that. Loved the video though, great Job!

Yeah agreed on the manufacturers including it, it would be awesome if every surface was capable of harvesting energy, I bet with the footprint of the truck the energy produced would be double or triple my setup.

 

[RLXXI]

Yeah agreed on the manufacturers including it, it would be awesome if every surface was capable of harvesting energy, I bet with the footprint of the truck the energy produced would be double or triple my setup.

I doubt it. This array is 1600W @ 150v and my best pull was 11kWh, yes that's a tracker that follows the sun and a standard 6' privacy fence for size comparison.

 

[Joe Lightning]

Yeah agreed on the manufacturers including it, it would be awesome if every surface was capable of harvesting energy, I bet with the footprint of the truck the energy produced would be double or triple my setup.

There's a guy on YouTube that put flexible panels on his Tesla, and is running around without having to stop and charge it that much. You have the glass roof, so that's out, but you could put those flexible panels on your hood like the Tesla guy. I think the Fisker Ocean had solar panels built into the roof of their SUV, but If I'm not mistaken, they went out of business. (Too many warranty claims on the solar roof panels LOL)

 

[chl]

Hey guys, excited to show off my recent project, solar panels on a tonneau cover!



Happy to answer any questions. I get 2+ kWh a day and now always have cold drinks wherever I go!

I admire your initiative.

My 2012 Nissan Leaf has a small solar panel on the roof for trickle charging the 12V battery when out in the daytime. And I have used dash placed solar trickle chargers for other vehicle 12V batteries.

There is the Aptera design with a lot of the body covered in solar panels, enough to add up to about 40 miles per day to the very aerodynamic vehicle: https://aptera.us/vehicle/

Of course the Lightning would not get many miles from 2kWh.
But then how many miles are added by regenerative braking the Lightning?

My Nissan Leaf produces about 20kw during braking, other vehicles can produce more power, maybe 60kW. But how long is that power being produced (power x time = energy)? Only a few seconds each time the brake is pressed, but I suppose that could add up to a few miles a day depending. (Of course there are other benefits beside range addition to regenerative braking.)

I think you and others might get some good ideas from Will Prowse's channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@WillProwse

Some people commented on the $1k cost estimate, but there are ways you could cut it down quite a bit. "Used" reclaimed solar panels are a thing, for example, and a way to cut costs dramatically.

Some note that you are using a lot of the bed with wiring and batteries.
But there is no reason you could not run the panel output up to the Frunk leaving the bed available for pickup truck type uses, eh?

An early DIY EV and an old Ford Ranger put a whole array of batteries in the back of a pickup truck, some how they managed to still have utility (e.g., the old electric Ford Ranger):
https://300mpg.org/2019/08/10/electric-truck-lithium-battery-upgrade/

The top of tonneau covers is a blank canvas (somewhat wasted space) waiting for something useful to be done with it, and you found a way to DIY it into a solar energy collection system, so kudos for that!

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Both. The troubles happen where there are higher thermal and/or electrical resistances. Often at solder joints. If the solder joint is part of a minor connection, you'll lose some cells. If it's at a major connection you may lose the entire panel.

 

[hajalie24]

There's a guy on YouTube that put flexible panels on his Tesla, and is running around without having to stop and charge it that much. You have the glass roof, so that's out, but you could put those flexible panels on your hood like the Tesla guy. I think the Fisker Ocean had solar panels built into the roof of their SUV, but If I'm not mistaken, they went out of business. (Too many warranty claims on the solar roof panels LOL)

Interesting, will have to check that out! I saw another guy who did the cannonball run on his Tesla charging only off solar. He had something like 5.7kw of flexible panels in the trunk and a charge inverter. Every 2 or 3 days he would fill up and continue on his trip lol.

I admire your initiative.

My 2012 Nissan Leaf has a small solar panel on the roof for trickle charging the 12V battery when out in the daytime. And I have used dash placed solar trickle chargers for other vehicle 12V batteries.

There is the Aptera design with a lot of the body covered in solar panels, enough to add up to about 40 miles per day to the very aerodynamic vehicle: https://aptera.us/vehicle/

Of course the Lightning would not get many miles from 2kWh.
But then how many miles are added by regenerative braking the Lightning?

My Nissan Leaf produces about 20kw during braking, other vehicles can produce more power, maybe 60kW. But how long is that power being produced (power x time = energy)? Only a few seconds each time the brake is pressed, but I suppose that could add up to a few miles a day depending. (Of course there are other benefits beside range addition to regenerative braking.)

I think you and others might get some good ideas from Will Prowse's channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@WillProwse

Some people commented on the $1k cost estimate, but there are ways you could cut it down quite a bit. "Used" reclaimed solar panels are a thing, for example, and a way to cut costs dramatically.

Some note that you are using a lot of the bed with wiring and batteries.
But there is no reason you could not run the panel output up to the Frunk leaving the bed available for pickup truck type uses, eh?

An early DIY EV put a whole array of batteries in the back of a pickup truck, some how they managed to still have utility (e.g., the old electric Ford Ranger):
https://300mpg.org/2019/08/10/electric-truck-lithium-battery-upgrade/

The top of tonneau covers is a blank canvas (somewhat wasted space) waiting for something useful to be done with it, and you found a way to DIY it into a solar energy collection system, so kudos for that!

Yeah, the apterra looks cool and since it's not a brick I bet you get a lot more miles per kWh...

Honestly yeah the price isn't bad, less than $300 for the panels, and as you said things can be had for cheap, or if you're already into this hobby you might even have a lot of the other parts lying around like batteries and charge controllers.

And I like you said about running the panels output to the frunk. It's certainly possible, I didn't realize how relatively easy it is to pass wires from the bed or frunk until a few days ago. Still, I use my frunk more than my bed and don't want it all taken up by this, plus my monster fridge doesn't fit in the trunk.

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