EV Rooftop Solar Charger by GoSun

[Riv E In]

Only sharing because I think the idea is interesting. Not advocating for or against the product. Thought others here might be intrigued, too.

Rooftop EV Solar Charger

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[NY_Rob]

At first glace I thought "silly", but it's pretty cool actually!

Looks like the top of the carrier flips up towards the passenger side of the vehicle then the flexible panels fold out from there.

My only concern: "Battery Type: Lithium Iron Phosphate to buffer solar intermittency". Of course battery degradation can be handled with a properly programmed BMS, so in theory it should be able to handle 1,000s of charge cycles.. hopefully.

Take that Vampire Drain!!

 

[jjswan33]

Cool idea but mostly a gimmick.

Rough break even point:

1200W of solar will produce ~800W max in peak sun.

0.8kWh per hour of use. Assuming $0.20/kWh ~$0.16/hour of full sun

3000/0.16 = 18750 hours of full sun needed to break even

Honestly my guess is the panels break down and are ineffective before you recoup your cost.

 

[COdogman]

I would buy it just to roll out when a hail storm is coming.

 

[Riv E In]

Cool idea but mostly a gimmick.

Rough break even point:

1200W of solar will produce ~800W max in peak sun.

0.8kWh per hour of use. Assuming $0.20/kWh ~$0.16/hour of full sun

3000/0.16 = 18750 hours of full sun needed to break even

Honestly my guess is the panels break down and are ineffective before you recoup your cost.

I don't disagree - but I would call out that this could provide a little juice when otherwise not available (i.e., off-grid), so those watts have a higher "value".

I think it's a limited use case overall, and overpriced for what it provides, but if executed properly there could be a cooler, improved, similar solution in the future.

 

[Tango45]

I would buy it just to roll out when a hail storm is coming.

There might be cheaper alternatives. We don't get much hail here, but the one time we did, I threw one of these over the Hyundai (Nessie lives in the garage).

 

[HighVoltOverland]

Relevant thread discussing merits here:
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/solar-charging-while-camping-thoughts.21132/

 

[ohseedee]

For typical daily driving use cases it will never make sense. Having the roof rank on will impact efficiency, so the stated gain in reality is a lot less. Realistically you won't have it deployed every day during peak sun, so the ROI would take many years.

I think where this could be of high value is situations where you totally fine with energy costing more and being less efficient on the road because at your designation you have no other options, like if you cant charge at home or for camping. This solution could offset energy used to run a fridge and cooktop during a camping trip allowing you to use more power for longer off grid. That said, most overlanders need that space for a tent or other items. Probably only going to sell a few to people that like gimmicks and want to show off.

 

[NY_Rob]

I wonder what would happen if you just left it plugged in to the vehicle 24/7? So you get a sunny day, it's charging the vehicle, then the sun goes down, it's internal lithium batts shut down. The next morning the sun rises, will it just start charging the vehicle or will the vehicle throw error codes because the EVSE just cut power before being physically disconnected from the charge port and refuse to charge until the plug is removed and reinserted in to the charge port?

 

[COdogman]

There might be cheaper alternatives. We don't get much hail here, but the one time we did, I threw one of these over the Hyundai (Nessie lives in the garage).

Yeah, I keep a couple of those in my frunk for that purpose, and because they are just useful to have around. I watched someone attempt to use a couple blankets in a hail storm once and it was a total clusterfuck. They had a little car and between the wind, rain, hail they were out there getting pelted for over 5 minutes trying to get that thing barely covered. We get really destructive hail around here every Spring unfortunately.

 

[jjswan33]

I don't disagree - but I would call out that this could provide a little juice when otherwise not available (i.e., off-grid), so those watts have a higher "value".

I think it's a limited use case overall, and overpriced for what it provides, but if executed properly there could be a cooler, improved, similar solution in the future.

Well going back to my previous math at 0.8 kWh per hour of full sun you'd need ~12 hours to get 20 miles of range.

The idea is good but the available technology and cost just doesn't pencil out. Actually probably net negative due to the lost range of having this on your roof on route to your destination.

 

[mkhuffman]

Only sharing because I think the idea is interesting. Not advocating for or against the product. Thought others here might be intrigued, too.

Rooftop EV Solar Charger

Your link got me totally distracted as I browsed their website and saw this:

An inflatable electric boat you can put in the back of your R1T? What? Crazy. Now I want one. Thanks, man!

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

Looks like a cool enough idea but a lot of expense @ $3,000 and the claim of 30 miles per day

They have a model 3 pictured so something like a Rivian would get much less.

I suppose something half that cost, that could maintain the truck while parked and in standby, might be a viable solution.

I would want to see the estimated output in kwh vs miles added.

 

[Epicloop]

I wonder if the gains make up for the Cd efficiency losses during travel.

 

[joesimonsen]

Cost aside the benefit is extremely niche. Like this only really makes sense for charging if you are fully off grid and need a few extra miles of range. If this is the scenario is probably makes more sense to just bring a tiny gas/propane generator and top off with that. Power wise a regular wall outlet will deliver far more power and those exist everywhere and can be used 24 hours of the day versus only when the sun is in the ideal position or its not cloudy.

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