Forgetting for the moment that 'peak output' ONLY happens with the combined 'peak sunlight' & 'perfect angle to the light source' which is nary impossible unless you employ a sun tracking mount - which flat on a roof of a car is not!! LOL!!

Ok, the funny part is that I can't even imagine a 'prepper' setting up and driving around one of these things. :)

Quote from: Swizzy on February 15, 2025, 12:56:532k investment. Isn't electricity cheap in the US? Its only "free" electricity once you recover the cost of the panels.

Cheap is relative. Some places it is cheap, other places it is not. Also depends on how much sunlight you get as many parts of the US have very good amount of sunlight a year. It also depends if you have net metering or not.

Quote from: Inp Ain on February 16, 2025, 14:09:38Precisely. Came here to say that -- rooftop solar is for... The uneducated. Math is simply not matching: non-integrated origami actually reduces range (only works in a case of a microcommute, requires open parking, constantly sunny weather, and subject to theft and vandalism); integrated into roof -- can produce only tiny amount of power due to tiny footprint, and again requires open parking and being parked all day to generate that 10 miles of range.

People invented supercharges for a reason, y'all

You mean roof rack solar. Rooftop solar is for houses and makes plenty of sense in many places.

Roof rack solar can be fine if it is small, built into the car and you live in a sunny area like California. The use case though wouldn't be to charge the car but keep the AC running in the car or trickle charging when you leave the car for a long time.

Always find these inventions (or marketing ploys) interesting as the physics are known and known to not work out.

This could be useful for a very niche market of people wanting the shade or emergency backup power. And maybe for those with short commutes and can't charge at home.

It wouldn't pay for itself for 5 years. And many emergency power folks are better off with a generator.

But, with panel cost decreases & thin-film, maybe they can expand this to 25kWh/day for the same price in a couple years. Until then, it'll be super niche, but maybe they'll sell enough to stay in business.

Quote from: Brad Abernethy on February 16, 2025, 14:23:57As noted by another, the math does not add up here.  I have an 11 kw solar array.  If I take off four panels it's just less than 10 kw.  That includes 30 panels. I understand that these are newer panels, but to suggest that these add up to '10 kw on a good day' is highly misleading.  My array charges our EV but takes far more space than the top of any car takes. 

The article states a 2kw max output for the array. The photo shows 12 panels, so about 166w per panel.

The stated 10kwh number, would be the accumulated output of the array over an entire day.

That's a tax on stupid tree huggera

As noted by another, the math does not add up here.  I have an 11 kw solar array.  If I take off four panels it's just less than 10 kw.  That includes 30 panels. I understand that these are newer panels, but to suggest that these add up to '10 kw on a good day' is highly misleading.  My array charges our EV but takes far more space than the top of any car takes. 

Precisely. Came here to say that -- rooftop solar is for... The uneducated. Math is simply not matching: non-integrated origami actually reduces range (only works in a case of a microcommute, requires open parking, constantly sunny weather, and subject to theft and vandalism); integrated into roof -- can produce only tiny amount of power due to tiny footprint, and again requires open parking and being parked all day to generate that 10 miles of range.

People invented supercharges for a reason, y'all

This system is mounted on a roof rack and folds/unfolds to allow charging. You're adding a rather small amount of range but even folded up, the system adds extra drag to the car, on the way there and back (your example was going to work and leaving the car there for 9 hours). Since the added drag means more electricity needed in both directions, this actually probably reduces your range.

Would keep the car cool in the summer, though ;)

2k investment. Isn't electricity cheap in the US? Its only "free" electricity once you recover the cost of the panels.