Tesla Car to Be Powered by Printed Solar Panels on a 15,000-Km Road Trip

The Tesla will be powered using 18 printed plastic solar panels.

Tesla Car to Be Powered by Printed Solar Panels on a 15,000-Km Road Trip

Photo Credit: Reuters

It will be an 84-day journey in Tesla car

Highlights
  • The team plans to visit about 70 schools during the journey
  • The solar panels are made on a commercial printer
  • The move could be a push for Australians to think more about EVs
Advertisement

Scientists in Australia are testing printed solar panels they will use to power a Tesla on a 15,100-km (9,400-mile) journey beginning in September, which they hope will get the public thinking about steps to help avert climate change.

The Charge Around Australia project will power a Tesla electric car with 18 of the team's printed plastic solar panels, each 18 metres (59 feet) long, rolling them out beside the vehicle to soak up sunlight when it needs a charge.

Paul Dastoor, the inventor of the printed solar panels, said the University of Newcastle team would be testing not only the endurance of the panels but their potential performance for other applications.

"This is actually an ideal test bed to give us information about how we would go about using and powering technology in other remote locations, for example, in space," Dastoor told Reuters in the town of Gosforth, north of Sydney.

Printed solar is a lightweight, laminated PET plastic that can be made at a cost of less than $10 (roughly Rs. 764) a square metre.

The panels are made on a commercial printer originally used for printing wine labels.

Dastoor said using the panels to power a car would get Australians to think more about electric vehicles and could help ease their "range anxiety".

"(The) community is seeking these sorts of answers to the problems it's being presented with, day in, day out, around climate change," he said.

On their 84-day Tesla journey, the team plans to visit about 70 schools to give students a taste of what the future may hold.

Asked what Elon Musk, creator of the Tesla car and founder of Tesla, might say about the CAA project, Dastoor said he hoped he would be pleased.

CAA was "showing how our innovative technology is now combining with his developments to develop new solutions for the planet", Dastoor said.

Reuters is publishing a series of environmental stories to mark Earth Day, which falls on April 22. The Earth Day theme for this year is "Invest In Our Planet".

© Thomson Reuters 2022


Should you buy a 4G or 5G budget phone? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Samsung Galaxy M53 5G: An All-Rounder Smartphone That Is Taking the Industry by Storm
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »