How Many Solar Panels Are Needed To Charge A Tesla 

We really need a DC to DC charging option for EV's the Conversion of DC solar input to AC battery output, back to DC battery is also inefficient.

Here’s my example: I have a 6 kW solar installation that is good for about 40 kWh on a sunny day. From this I can add about 20 kWh to my Model Y if the car is home and can be charged during the day. I get about 4 miles/kWh, so about 80 miles added in a day. That’s more than enough for my daily driving. The catch is that if my car is at work with me, it’s not charging at home. I have a Powerwall, but its capacity is 13.5 kWh (about 11 kWh if I maintain a 20% reserve on the battery), so that’s the most I can get if I charge the car at night from the Powerwall. And clouds, rain, or snow can dramatically lower the output of the panels. The panels and battery cover the entire load from the house during the day when electric rates are high, and I charge the car at night when rates are low, so it works pretty well for me.

This is good to show for the sake of reality. I get asked all the time why Tesla doesn't make their roofs out of solar panels. People who have never used solar don't really understand the amount of panels and consistent sun it takes. That being said, whole home solar is very affordable these days and people also do not understand how quickly a solar system pays for itself when you're offsetting the cost of gasoline or diesel fuel in a vehicle. Residential solar paired with an EV or two is a very good combination for personal finances.

The channel @solarcannonballrun did this running a tesla from coast to coast. He had a portable system with theoretical power of 6.4kw, but 5kw real world. That took him something like 3 days to charge up his car each time. It's a cool setup with space and weight constraints

Smart putting the cardboard insulation. 👍

In reality, you could build a 10kW solar charging array for about $10-15k DIY and that would be basically perfect for 80-120 miles per day depending on the vehicle.

I have a 1,800 watts of panels on my house roof with DIY victron charge controllers/inverter, and 2 206 ah batteries. I use it to charge my model 3 every day while the car is sitting around the garage. On a good day in the summer I get 25-30 miles of range. I get more miles charging during the day vs filling my solar batteries and then charging the car from them.

Holy cow, that’s a lot more panels that I thought! Great video.

One think this shows is that with a pretty small setup you would still be able to have a working car in a total crisis where nothing around you works. Like after a big hurricane or other disaster. Even longterm you would be able to use the car/truck. That would not be doable with anything needing diesel or petrol.

Tesla needs to release DC to DC chargers for the homes with a Powerwall.

I use a special device to heat the interrior of my car during the cold months with solar power. That same device also allowes me to see outside the car without having to open the door.

Next do how many gallons of fuel to fill a gas car. Start with the energy required to pump it, transport it, store it, transport it again, refine it, transport it again, pump it again, then burn it.

My question would be. How many stick on solar panels could you put on there? And how much would it extend your range while driving?

You need an ultra efficient EV, like the Aptera, for solar to add significant range. However, charging an Aptera from panels on your roof would be enough to be its sole source of energy.

This is great! I wish more people played around with charging on portable solar/wind. I think someone should do try to travel across the country charging only on their portable power systems.

My son and I built an electric car about 12 years ago. I drove it to work everyday and charged it at work. We thought about using solar power to charge the car but the problem was that the car was at my workplace all day when the sun was out and back at home at night. The only way we could figure to use solar power at home was to buy another battery pack big enough to store the energy that could then be transferred to the car in the evening. This proved to be way too expensive at the time so we could not use solar power. If you have solar power available at work where the car is all day then you're all set.

Per your Cybertruck calculation: 30m/day * 365 days = 11,000 miles for a 3.57kW system. For actual results, I get 10.0 MWh per year from my roof system (7.62 kW rated, eastern WA, 4.4 solar hours, ~83%). That will give me about 20,000 miles per year at 0.48 kWh/mile in my F150 Lightning. (F150 Lightning is not on your list in the calculator, consider adding!)

This is great insight and true experience on what others may not have the capability to do. But I appreciate your testing and methodology. 18 miles may not get you far but it’ll definitely move the ball forward. I’d say depending on your scenario will dictate how effective this is. Also there are features you can turn off on the EV to manage your demand.

Epic insight. Literraly free fuel.

for all that utility im suprised they did not add a mppt in the bed for direct solar. and they do have bidirectional..

Cybertruck and a Delta Pro 3. You the man. I really enjoy your videos. Keep them coming and thanks for sharing.

I can't wait for dialog like : "Wearing this ring is like how a sinking boat floats".

All I know is that even with home solar panels you don't make your money back until after like 7-10 years of continuous usage and that is as long as nothing goes wrong. So even then after cost you would have to do this regularly for years to really make the cost back.

This is why I want an Aptera. Up to 40 miles per day solar charging with the 700 watts onboard solar. If they could just get the dang thing into production.

Your system had so many extra losses, another 20% for the in/out of the ecoflow. Also considering no one has cybertrucks and they require twice as much energy as most EVs like a Tesla model Y, you should have that for your range estimates.

Very good experiment. Thanks for sharing and take care of yourself.

How many total solar panels can be attached to the Delta Pro 3 at once? Do you have all 9 of those 300W+ panels plugged into that single power station? During off-roading trips in something like a Cybertruck, is it possible to pack like 12 EcoFlow portable 400W solar panels, then also pack 2-3 Delta Pro 3’s & the EcoFlow Smart Home Panel 2, granting 100+ miles of range per day when stationary at a campsite? If that is possible, I’m surprised Tesla doesn’t sell their own portable solar panel pack, I know it would be crazy expensive but still.

Very cool. In an apocalypse situation you could go for years as long as not exceeding ~18 miles a day. While all gasoline vehicles would rust out. But more practically, this is a lot of money in charging and storage so it will never pay for itself. It’s just fun and because you can kind of thing.

Most power stations are like a home. Only 40 amps. I own a power converter that is 5,000 watts at 500 amps. I always wandered what my power converter would do charging an EV. I have land. I haven't touched yet. It's 100% off grid. In the middle of nowhere. Why I want an EV but to be able to charge it on the property. Three nearest towns are 30 miles away each. Thanks for sharing.

Theres a fellow that did a 'solar cannonball run'(name of the youtube channel) using only solar panels and his model Y. He had 6kw of flexible 100 watt panels(they could be stacked like paper so took up less volume than your rigid panels) and they were angled toward the sun. It got him across the country... He used a different inverter/charge controller setup though because of the power input (6kw) What does that ecoflow top out at?

There are some losses when going PV -> battery then battery -> inverter. How much less overhead would there be if your battery was pre-charged to N% and the car was directly charged at a rate similar to what the panels would generate? The battery would serve as a volltage buffer for clouds/etc.

Summer in the PNW - I'm usually able to fill my 10 kWh of DIY off grid batteries in a day using 1600 watts of solar. But after charging our Mini SE, that translates to a similar 7 kWh post losses. Still, a far more efficient vehicle offering up to 35 miles a day from the big ball of fusion in the sky.

At my house we have poles that have wires that bring electricity directly to my house. I just pay based on how much i use. Much cheaper and easier. You guys should look into it

This is similar to what im doing now. I charge up a bluetti ac300 6KWh bettery while im at work with solar (or at night during off peak) and charge my truck when i get home. It adds a 4-6% more juice. I only use 4% to work and back, so it works fine. Its anything extra i do during the day that sets me back. I probably need to expand to 12KWh or bring in the grid when the battery goes below 20% or so. I'm planning on doing both. I also want to put panels on the truck itself. My calculations suggest i can get 800W of panels over the bed and sunroof. If I go backpacking, I fugure I can get around 40 miles back with 800W over 4 days.

Would it hurt the Tesla if you cut out the Delta Pro battery and had an enphase Iq8 or Hoymiles 2000 micro inverter connected to the panels and then directly connected through the NEMA 50 to the Tesla's charger?

You didn't really talk about the impact of the wiring etc on your overall system efficiency. Does that account for the 43% difference in actual received charge vs the 14% difference is system wattage?

Great video Can you charge an electric car or electric truck using a Delta pro 3 and ecoflows Dual fuel smart generator combined , once the delta pro reaches 30% the smart generator can kick in at 2900 watts. And charge the delta pro back while you are charging the truck, could you charge the truck up fully using that method?

I have a Y and had a 3. I always though about using a setup like that but unfortunately for my need (150 miles/day average) it wouldn't cut :( One thing that you didn't mention was the price and when you would break even (in miles !) That is something I havent' seen around.

Cool idea. I’m not an engineer but is there a way to charge the EV without using the battery? I would think there’s a lot of waste charging a power station to then charge another power station.

The writers of this show are so talented, someone in this series might be encased in Carbonite before the end of this season!

Anything to show off the cybertruck lol

Great video, thanks for the info. Ideally, a foldable solar package that can charge the car directly or at least add 100 miles within a 1-2 day time frame. Also once portable battery packs come down in price, it’ll be great.

I am adding this comment because I am not sure if the online calculator is clear enough for someone without technical background to fully understand it. The calculator is simply showing that one needs to use an inverter with ten 360-watt panels for 4.2 hours to add 30 miles to the Cyber Truck or 12KWH (0.4 KWH/mile * 30 miles). However, the calculator doesn't use KWH unit and is not aware of any battery storage (KWH). For example, you mentioned that you have 4KWH+4KWH of battery storage. So, "ideally", one can add 30 miles to the Cyber Truck much under 4.2 hours if the batteries are charged and the inverter is rated for the output current. The calculator is a good start but needs more parameters (e.g., battery KWH and amount of charge level). Average driver uses 30-50 miles per day and I have looked at the KWH numbers to get those miles and it requires a very small solar system (i.e., 10KWH for battery storage and 5KW rated inverter).

So about $2.38 worth of diesel for my chevy Colorado 2.8 diesel that gets 25 miles per gallon How many days equals payback for the cost of that equipment?

Will an EV truck manufacturer ever put an MPPT input in the bed so u can charge it with panels - like on a campsite- for days when u are camping offgrid. Ecoflows solar generator works, but seems like it should be built into the vehicle.

Great video. I thinking of buying the ecoflow 3 and some panels to offset my electricity for my M3 and Mx so this video was right on target for me. I also live in Illinois

Maybe 4 times a day, orientate the solar panels at an angle so they catch the sun better.

Would be so much better if you could just hook panels up direct, without the redundant battery etc....(the car already is a giant battery!) whatever power comes in, that's what the car gets.

That was actually more than I thought you’d get

You can actually triple number panel using flexible panel

Wow, I had no idea that the cyber truck was that inefficient, but then again, I am comparing it to my BMW i3 at 4.2 miles per kw.

put all thoes solar panels on a trailer roof and trail it with your cybertruck charging whole day long directly your cyber truck.. 2 benefits you have a lot of space loading stuffs on the trailer and your cybetruck is always fully charged ;-) only bad aspect is the needed parking and turning space ;-)

It shows one thing, it is possible to charge an enormous EV with just a basic solar setup. It could come in very handy in a bad situation, especially if you can't get a hold of gasoline to run a generator or use a gas car.

I'm pretty sure the math would cut the number of needed panels in around half, at least nearly with 700w panels. The issue is the startup cost, The higher wattage panels you get the less panels you'll actually need which means you can fit more that accomplish more in less space. But also those same panels cost more making it hard for many to justify buying the better ones when they can barely afford the average 300ish watt panels from Amazon or what have you as is. Regardless I would be interested in seeing the difference on a diy settup using a few 700 watt panels In the same ground configuration or even leaving the truck bed on the cyber truck open and letting it charge through at least one of them while you're driving around to see if it makes a good dent or not. Regardless awesome video, the more information people get on these types of situations and setups the better informed they can be about making a decision.

You should mention that not all EVs and EVSEs can change their amps. So if you use a 40 AMP EVSE with say a Bolt EUV, it would not work with this setup. I own a Bolt and ID4 and had to buy a EVSE that I could change the amps to charge at family and friends places. Great Video!

You should also add in the daily drop when Sentri mode is one. It’s close to .8 per day.

This big electric car uses a lot of power and so solar is a difficult sell. I ride an e-bike to work everyday and I do charge it off the solar panel in my RV. Because it's only a 12 amp hour battery it is very feasible to charge it off solar power

The fact that you have to provide shade for your power station instead of having a solar energy source for it is an oxymoron. When they come out with an all in one for that and the vehicle itself then it’s a real game changer.

You could have backed the truck all the way up to the end of the cement and put the panels in the grass where you would have been catching sunlight sooner

Saved around $3 a day on gas, around $1000 a year, solar panels at $300 x 10= $3000 ecoflo delta $2000 wires and controllers $500 total around $5500 so it would pay for it self in only around 6 years.

Calculator did not work for me. Have had solar since 2008.

Nice test, good info.

You know… I was just thinking. What if… you could make a solar power driveway?

Great practical experiment!

Not sure you meant to display your location from the Tesla app.

Looks like I will be sticking to pumping hydrocarbons for quite some time..

18 miles of range, wow very impressive.

Interesting. Renting with a plug in and work from home in SoCal. Would like cheap and easy portable system to charge my car.

Using your method you're going to use up battery cycles. Why aren't you trying to generate 660W and using the 110 charging plug?

MY model 3 charges at 8 kw max (32amp) so i expect it to be a lot. Something like 30 300w panels (probably more due to losses).

Looks like the same energy in buying a gallon of gasoline.

Any thoughts on the EV roof rack solar systems? Would you review them?

Entirely unrelated question, but what kind of plants are growing on your garage?

Add BYD cars in the calculator

I’d love to see a setup where there wasn’t any dc ac dc conversation going on.

the problem with pro installed vs diy is a pro install is 10x this cost vs diy with maybe 60% the effectiveness

Solar panels can produce good amount of electricity but the amount need to charge your EV/Tesla is huge...

Isn't the question: "How many watts?" not how many panels?

Inspiring! Thanks for the video. 💯

To people hating on how much range it got for the time it took it’s a whole lot more range then you’d get out of your homemade gas… lol

Basically tells us nothing. Also, how much loss is there from having the battery in between. 5, 20%? Seems like we lost a lot and didn’t account for it wisely at all

It's so inefficient to have DC current from the panels to a power station which is AC. Then the Tesla has to convert back to DC to charge it. I have seen systems that charge an EV direct from panels to via DC to DC charging. Let's hope the price comes down though on these systems.

Obviously if you do a lot of driving, you will need a lot of solar panels to charge your Tesla. Or a grid connection. Now for a word problem in mathematics. Calculate going across the US in your Tesla using nothing but the solar system it can carry along. How long would the trip take?

What about connecting directly with a solar charge controller and using the battery of the cybertruck as your "mobile power station" wouldn't it also be more efficient to covert the electricity only once ?

Great video.Some very useful information. More!

If the CT had a more direct solar option (e.g., solar straight to Tesla mobile charger), would you get noticeably more energy into the battery? IOW, what's the loss of going solar->ecoflow->mobile charger->CT?

Seems like we’re miles away from solar car charging being a feasible option. No pun intended.

I am watching this video at 2am and under the influence of medication & alcohol, but it does sound like to me that the math ain't mathing around the 6:00 mark. You're talking about only adding 7 kwh worth of energy into the cybertruck total, but then at the same time mentioning having a 3 kw solar system. So the way I look at it is, your 3kw solar system would produce 3kw/h, you waiting to start counting at 10am would still give you a very good decent amount of solar energy with let's say 6hrs, so 6hrs times 3kwh equals 18kwh sent over to the cybertruck. I don't think my math is wrong, or that I'm missing something. But at the same time, I want to ask everyone else if his estimate/logic seems off, or if it's me indeed missing something?

How much do those panels cost?

You only need one but have to wait 12 months for it to charge 😂

You need about 20kw of solar if you drive it everyday

Seems like someone could easily get a ford e transit, put panels on the roof and charge it pretty easily….

With how little I drive, I could get away with half that setup and rarely go below the charge limit. Fortunately, I have free charging at work anyway, so charging is always free.

All this effort you could buy a diesel and convert it to biodiesel and make your own diesel

Because that cheap, high frequency, transformerless inverter offers no galvanic isolation between its DC boost stage and its AC output, one day you will fry your EV's onboard charger and will void your EV's warranty. If you want to safely charge your EV with solar, you should be using a low frequency, transformer based inverter.

You just tested how many miles can be added to your truck using a 17amp source. That is limited by the strength of your solar inverter - not necessarily the solar panels. It would be much more instructive just to show the math rather than putting together a random setup.

Aptera solar car!

Don’t call the ICE diesel if stranded,you’re on your own

Do you guys don't have calculators or a pen and paper?

This test is like 10 years over due