A solar panel tonneau over the rear bed of VIA Motors’ extended cab truck provides adds an additional 10 miles (16 km) every day to the vehicle’s all-electric range. At the moment, VIA Motors is only taking orders for its vehicles from fleet customers, but expects to begin retail sales by mid 2014. The solar tonneau cover will be available as a US$2,000 option.
So it would be $2000 for up to 3650 miles of no-charge driving each year. Maybe around 20000 miles for the life of the panels or $1 for every 10 miles over 10 years. This will become more interesting when it is about five times cheaper and when added to the roof top of lighter and more efficient vehicles.
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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