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A single 250 Watt solar panel can produce about 1 KWh per day in the US (a little more or a little less depending upon the part of the country and the aim). 20
by jsight 10y ago
A single 250 Watt solar panel can produce about 1 KWh per day in the US (a little more or a little less depending upon the part of the country and the aim). 20 of them would produce about 20 KWh. That ends up being between 60-80 miles of daily electric range for ~30 years. The panels themselves cost about $125 each, with a total panel cost of $2500. Unfortunately, installed costs will likely get you closer to $16,500 for this whole setup. Over the lifetime of the panels, you would expect over 600,000 miles worth of production.
The equivalent amount of gasoline (assuming 36.5 mpg and 2.50/gallon) would be 41,000.
Feel free to check my match, and Of course, I'm handwaving around some problems (the time value of money for one), but I think it is pretty easy to see that there are viable options for vastly increasing the amount of power production available and to do so largely in lockstep with the increase in demand for power from electric vehicles.
I think it is also pretty easy to see how a Tesla salesman might frame a sales pitch for solar panels.
- zwily 10y agoThe biggest problem with Tesla + solar panels is that most people charge their Tesla at night. So you need to add a battery to that equation to really drive on sunlight.
- dba7dba 10y agoAnd that is why Tesla came up with Powerwall. Now Musk Inc. can sell not just a Tesla + solar panels, he can sell you Powerwall too.
- jsight 10y agoThat was another part of what I was getting at when I said that I was handwaving around some issues. :) In much of the US, net metering is currently available, so it isn't really a problem for the consumer in those places. On average, a US home consumes ~30KWh per day. A single Tesla P100D has a 100KWh battery. It isn't hard to imagine ways to shift the charging profile towards the day for a lot of people.