Solar charging kit in the works for Rivian

[Smitty000]

The company states they are in the engineering phase of the product's process aimed at Teslas and that a version for Rivians is also in the works. It is supposedly a kit add on for the vehicle (both a Roof flex and stackable flex panel along with a 6kw inverter + battery). They state about 2000 watts of solar power (granting upto 60 miles of added range and stores 30 miles of "emergency range"). I thought this was interesting.

I bought an ecoflow delta pro and have 600w of solar. Planning on using it for off grid power for a camper and it can emergency charge an EV.

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[Zoidz]

It wouldn't be pretty, but I wonder how effective having the entire car wrapped in solar panels would be. Anyone up for the math?

Most solar cells require the sun incident angle to be at least 45 degrees minimum, and only produce peak power at 90 degrees incident angle. Think about that when wrapping a car in solar cells. At any given time, half or less will be producing power. Early and late day, the panels on the sides will be blocked by mountains, trees, your house, other cars in a parking lot, etc. Cells are relatively fragile. Somebody giving you a door ding or a stone impact (like a windshield crack) will render that entire section of cells useless, due to series wiring.

Conceptually it's a fine idea, practically there are huge challenges for marginal return.

 

[CGM55082]

Awesome to hear. It's the first trip I plan to take with my R1S and I am really looking forward to putting the Rivian suspension through its paces and doing the entire trip through the canyon in silence.

Is your plan to do any car camping in the R1S? Still debating between the T and the S, and I really like that idea that an S can provide climate-controlled sleeping quarters.

 

[svet-am]

Is your plan to do any car camping in the R1S? Still debating between the T and the S, and I really like that idea that an S can provide climate-controlled sleeping quarters.

Yes, the entire plan is to car camp the entire time.

 

[evtrail]

How does one recharge the main battery, through the 110v? Charger adapter on the main charging port? That's a genuine, albeit candid question.

 

[SeaGeo]

How does one recharge the main battery, through the 110v? Charger adapter on the main charging port? That's a genuine, albeit candid question.

You use the same J1772 connector that the rivian comes with, and swap out the plug end from a 240v plug to a 120v.

You'll be waiting a long time to get more than a handful of miles though.

https://rivian.com/experience/charging
The portable charger plugs into the J1772 on the truck (the main port), and the. The ither end has swappable plugs. Click the "getting the most out of the portable charger" pop-up in the lage I linked.

 

[evtrail]

thank you, that makes sense! From @SeaGeo link:

It also comes with a
Level 1
adapter, which allows your Rivian to charge off of a standard 120V household outlet – just like the one used to charge your cellphone. When using the included Level 1 adapter, the Portable charger provides a slower charge, around 3 miles of range per hour. It’s useful in a pinch, but likely won’t be your everyday charging solution.

 

[ajdelange]

2000 W * 3 hrs FSE/d = 6 kWh/d. 6000/500 = 12 mile/da

Very cool but not very practical.

 

[epona]

This is really interesting. I have just put together a DIY version of this exactly for camping trips.

I know this is a super old thread, but I'd love to hear more about your DIY setup. I have a trip this summer where I'll be in the middle of the northern Nevada desert with no charging stations around for miles, and I'd like to make sure I don't come back to a bricked battery due to phantom drain. Thanks!

 

[SASSquatch]

I've got three words: Solar Tonneau Cover. Why not take advantage of all of that real estate for drawing a solar charge and acting like a lockable cover?

 

[Thedude]

I've got three words: Solar Tonneau Cover. Why not take advantage of all of that real estate for drawing a solar charge and acting like a lockable cover?

It will be nothing more than a trickle charger, good for keeping a battery from dying but not much else. I have 350 watts on my trailer roof and in full sun today have generated 1.5kwh. You’d be hard pressed to fit more capacity in the footprint of the tonneau. Add in some conversion losses from DC to AC back to DC and you’re looking at about 2 miles per day.

 

[SASSquatch]

It will be nothing more than a trickle charger, good for keeping a battery from dying but not much else. I have 350 watts on my trailer roof and in full sun today have generated 1.5kwh. You’d be hard pressed to fit more capacity in the footprint of the tonneau. Add in some conversion losses from DC to AC back to DC and you’re looking at about 2 miles per day.

I've got two words: Phantom Drain.

 

[Thedude]

I've got two words: Phantom Drain.

Like I said, a trickle charger to keep the battery maintained but not much else.

 

[SASSquatch]

Like I said, a trickle charger to keep the battery maintained but not much else.

You are making a lot of assumptions here about solar panel efficiency and conversion loss. Your setup doesn't equal what might be developed in the near or short term.

Solar panel efficiency is improving all the time (look at what aptera is doing or some of the solar cell paints in development) and a solution that either eliminates or reduces phantom drain, especially with a vehicle like Rivian that has significant battery loss overnight is absolutely welcome.

 

[emoore]

You are making a lot of assumptions here about solar panel efficiency and conversion loss. Your setup doesn't equal what might be developed in the near or short term.

Solar panel efficiency is improving all the time (look at what aptera is doing or some of the solar cell paints in development) and a solution that either eliminates or reduces phantom drain, especially with a vehicle like Rivian that has significant battery loss overnight is absolutely welcome.

There’s just not enough area for any significant amount of power to be produced. And solar panels aren’t that efficient. Best you are going to get is low 20%s efficiency. Even spacecraft solar panels have only recently broke 30%.

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