Photo: Instagram / Slav Popovski
For Cybertruck’s first televised appearance, on an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, Elon Musk joked that the bed of the all-electric truck would be so spacious you could actually carry a rocket launcher in there, should you so desire.
So who’s to say you couldn’t pack other, perhaps more practical stuff in there, like solar panels? 3D artist Slav Popovki, the same guy behind the floating Cybertruck render that caught Elon Musk’s eye and earned his approval, did just that and, in the process, gave the truck unlimited range.
Available at the bottom of the page is a render for the Cybertruck with pop-up, extendable solar panels, which would allow it to charge even when not connected to a power source. “A short animation I created of my civilian version of a 6 wheel Cybertruck with solar panel mod extends panels out and approx 5kw in good sun,” Popovski writes.
The idea is, of course, admirable: in addition to getting electrical power from the charger, the Cybertruck could also charge while doing absolutely nothing and, in theory at least, would have unlimited range. However, reality does have its own set of strict limitations, and it’s why we don’t have that many cars with solar panels in the first place.
Musk himself is aware of those limitations, after previously toying with the idea of placing solar panels on the roof of a Tesla. Long story short, solar panels on a car would add very few miles to the total range, which makes the entire process of placing them there not worth it.
In addition to that, Popovski’s concept means there’s little space left in the bed of the truck for doing all the stuff the truck is designed for, like hauling things – whether rocket launchers or not. Moreover, the surface of the panels, as shown in the concept at least, would simply not be enough to generate the kind of power the designer hopes for.
Then again, in order to shoot for the stars, one does have to start somewhere.
Available at the bottom of the page is a render for the Cybertruck with pop-up, extendable solar panels, which would allow it to charge even when not connected to a power source. “A short animation I created of my civilian version of a 6 wheel Cybertruck with solar panel mod extends panels out and approx 5kw in good sun,” Popovski writes.
The idea is, of course, admirable: in addition to getting electrical power from the charger, the Cybertruck could also charge while doing absolutely nothing and, in theory at least, would have unlimited range. However, reality does have its own set of strict limitations, and it’s why we don’t have that many cars with solar panels in the first place.
Musk himself is aware of those limitations, after previously toying with the idea of placing solar panels on the roof of a Tesla. Long story short, solar panels on a car would add very few miles to the total range, which makes the entire process of placing them there not worth it.
In addition to that, Popovski’s concept means there’s little space left in the bed of the truck for doing all the stuff the truck is designed for, like hauling things – whether rocket launchers or not. Moreover, the surface of the panels, as shown in the concept at least, would simply not be enough to generate the kind of power the designer hopes for.
Then again, in order to shoot for the stars, one does have to start somewhere.
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