Solar Panel Wrapped Cybertruck debuts at CES

[Rock5tar]

Don't know which company manufactured this but here is flexible solar panel wrap installed on a Cybertruck at CES 2025.

Cost is $10K (includes the 5kw battery inverter) and warrantied to 15 years.

I wish people would embrace the concept of "developing technologies" and see it for what it is - something to get us to dream and imagine, to excite us. Instead people consume themselves with a critical spirit and spew everything wrong that they see in an attempt to make themselves look intelligent. Congratulations to people attempting to develop technologies. I wish everyone else would just sit on their hands rather than type on a keyboard.

 

[yippie]

this is so laughably funny and completely unrealistic, .. only $10,000 wow what a deal to be forced to park my car in the sun (which will trigger overheat protection) and use up whatever few miles i happen to add to the battery 4 months out of the year, the remaining 8 months its cloudy, snowy, rainy, or something in between

 

[furbyland]

But the HASSLE of plugging in is gone, and for those without charging at home it saves trips to a supercharger.

Still not worth it from a fiscal standpoint, but neither is anything about a $120k truck

Those that are unable to charge at home beyond a 120V/15-20A plug, I'd seriously consider something else. If they had charging at say their work destination, then maybe... Home charging for other than very small daily commutes or trips requiring super charging, is just essential in my opinion.

 

[yippie]

I love common sense analysis. Well said.

and thats if you got full sun all day every day, and we all know snow, rain, fog, clouds and also int he sun Cabin overheat protection kicks in using those few miles you happen to gain. this thing MIGHT be able to offset sentry mode usage and thats about it

 

[yippie]

I hope Tesla comes through on the solar tonneau without the need of another battery

solar anything on a vehicle is stupid, on the Cybertruck it's ludicrous the tonneau will never be solar and will never provide any significant power source.

 

[yippie]

I agree with you. We need wireless charging in order to serve that segment of the market who rent or live in multi family dwellings.

what difference would wireless charging make ? the infrastructure still needs to get power from somewhere and instead of a wall connector its just a wireless mat. it dosnt change anything except lazy people not needing to go through "all the work" of plugging in

 

[jimnycricket65]

Don't know which company manufactured this but here is flexible solar panel wrap installed on a Cybertruck at CES 2025.

Cost is $10K (includes the 5kw battery inverter) and warrantied to 15 years.

Trunk space is an issue for me. And, the deal breaker is that it looks terrible for me. I will use the home charger and super charger once in a while. I love charging at home.

I am in California and there is no real threat of fire where I am but I am a county away. So I am charging to 100 just in case.

 

[mjezzi]

solar anything on a vehicle is stupid, on the Cybertruck it's ludicrous the tonneau will never be solar and will never provide any significant power source.

Our truck is used as a weekend/camping vehicle, sits outside, and we can’t charge it at home (superchargers are ten minutes away). If we can get 100 miles over the week, that would be great and I’d keep sentry mode on all the time.

No way I would pay 10k though or want a solar powered wrap. The obvious solar area would be over the top of the truck, not the sides. If there was a solar cover that went over the whole top area, it would double as a heat shield over the glass.

I won’t dedicate cargo space to a battery though. I want Tesla to allow a plug and play solution to the truck’s HV battery, otherwise it’s not worth it. Assuming they were considering a solar tonneau cover, maybe they designed that in for future expansion.

I also don’t want to pay more than $2k for this. ROI would be 3 years at supercharg, which is not bad.

One can dream.

 

[boley]

My dad (the son and law) and my uncle (the son) both worked for the power company. My Grandpa loved to tease them about how expensive electricity was and since he was a country boy born near the beginning of the 20th century he remembered having no electricity at all.

He still had wood stoves in the bedrooms and mainly used them for heat using wood cut from his property. He always had a huge wood pile out back of the house. One day a big ice storm and single digit temps hit and covered the woodpile with several inches of solid ice. He had a couple electric space heaters he kept for occasional use. This kept him and my grandma warm for a few hours until the power lines were taken out by the storm.

After that experience he never teased the power company boys again. In fact, he said he learned that when you need it, you would pay any amount for electricity. I always remember that lesson when I price off grid energy sources. It may take 27 years to pay off if you never have an emergency situation, but if you do, it can pay itself off in as little as a few hours. And if you put a value on peace of mind, the pay off can be immediate. Just saying...

 

[Cybertruck26]

what difference would wireless charging make ? the infrastructure still needs to get power from somewhere and instead of a wall connector its just a wireless mat. it dosnt change anything except lazy people not needing to go through "all the work" of plugging in

Inductive charging is also incredibly inefficient. The only reason is will be on Cybercab, by default, is bc it's meant to be a completely driverless system that can automate/charge without the need of human intervention.

 

[stumby]

Full shot of how the solar panel wrap looks. Resembles digital camo ?

 

[Cybertruck26]

Full shot of how the solar panel wrap looks. Resembles digital camo ?

I LOVE the look though. The traces look pretty sick with the camo design.

 

[yippie]

Inductive charging is also incredibly inefficient. The only reason is will be on Cybercab, by default, is bc it's meant to be a completely driverless system that can automate/charge without the need of human intervention.

Bring back the tesla snake is all i have to say ;P

 

[CyberZephyr]

I hope Tesla comes through on the solar tonneau without the need of another battery

Yeah, I doubt it. That was just one of the things Elon doesn't keep to his word. In reality, it would probably be really compromising, and would only give like a mile or two a day.

 

[CyberZephyr]

what difference would wireless charging make ? the infrastructure still needs to get power from somewhere and instead of a wall connector its just a wireless mat. it dosnt change anything except lazy people not needing to go through "all the work" of plugging in

I would imagine, for human drivers, it would probably take more time and effort to park correctly on the mat, rather than just plug it in! The only reason the Cybercab has inductive charging is because it has to be completely autonomous (as Cybertruck26 put above

Inductive charging is also incredibly inefficient. The only reason is will be on Cybercab, by default, is bc it's meant to be a completely driverless system that can automate/charge without the need of human intervention.

), and the "snake charger" wasn't going to well, lol.