The owner of Tesla “pumped up” the range of his Model Y by making a “solar roof” (photo)
The owner of the Tesla Model Y has built his own solar roof, which will help increase the electric vehicle’s range by more than 32 km per day.
Tesla, like many other automakers, has previously considered the possibility of using solar energy in electric vehicles, but has not launched this feature. Other automakers offer it as an option, but rooftop solar systems either power only auxiliary functions, not the battery, or provide a range of only a few kilometers per day.
In 2017, Elon Musk said that he had instructed Tesla engineers to study the possibility of integrating solar cells into the Model 3, but they concluded that it was not worth doing at that time. Since then, the efficiency of solar panels has improved and Tesla has accumulated its own experience in the field of solar panel implementation through the development of solar tiles.
After the launch of the Cybertruck, Musk surprised many by announcing that Tesla’s new electric pickup truck would have a solar roof that would add 20 km of range per day. A few years later, Tesla applied for a patent that showed that the solar cells would be built into the retractable cover. But the Cybertruck has already been released, and it does not have a solar roof.
Meanwhile, the owner of Tesla did not wait any longer and took matters into his own hands – he decided to build a sliding solar roof for his Model Y. He built a rack that is placed on the Tesla Model Y and can use 9 panels of 175 W each to charge the car.
The owner wrote about his project: “For the past two years, I’ve been working on a 2000 to 4000 W solar system for my Model Y. Today I can charge it anywhere in the world.”
3D-printed parts and a carbon fiber telescopic tube were used to make the rack for deploying the panels. According to his estimates, it can increase the range by more than 32 km per day.
