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A Solar-Power-Harvesting Tonneau Cover for Pickup Trucks
Worksport's Solis and Cor Hub portable generator
Because solar panels are easiest to manufacture flat, cars are a pretty poor substrate for them. However, pickup trucks—often seen as a symbol of energy guzzlers—actually provide the perfect platform. Most pickup trucks have beds with level sidewalls. Worksport, an American manufacturer of tonneau covers, reckons that's the perfect platform for their forthcoming Solis Solar Tonneau Cover.
The company claims the Solis can generate up to 650W of power that can add 2,050 miles of range, in a year, to an electric pickup. The power gathered from the panels is fed into their Cor Hub unit, a portable power station that sits in the bed. A cable running from the Cor Hub can then be used to trickle-charge your truck at Level 1 charging, so this system is for drivers with patience.
Alternatively, Solis could be used in any truck, including gas-powered ones, in order to turn the Cor Hub into a portable power station delivering free energy. The Cor Hub can be configured with multiple batteries, maxing out at a 4000W peak power output with a 3000 Wh storage capacity, allowing it to run even refrigerators or air conditioners, the company claims.
The company has been working on this for about a decade, and says they're ready to launch the Solis this fall. They're currently soliciting $25 deposits for pre-orders but, puzzlingly, have not yet named a full price.
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or, to save the planet, you could prohibit anyone who drives around in an empty pickup truck and never uses it for work, or hauling, or moving, or construction .... and only to burnish their bougie / good ole boy credentials ... from being able to drive it.
Do you drive your car with every seat occupied at all times?
He probably drives a car that is fit for his purpose, not one that is designed for farming and construction. In Europe, people who don't live on a farm don't use pickups, and construction workers use vans, because they protect your stuff from theft. The rest of us use cars optimised for passenger transport. I.e. they are small, and use little energy to run.
They should buy an extra vehicle for the days they aren't utilizing the truck bed? Using that
Americans can drive what they choose, what's next? Prohibiting certain foods, clothes, then what speech & thought. Your comment sounds like a preamble to totalitarianism. There's already other countries for that thought process. Have fun.
You are an idiot with no idea of which you speak. The typical type of person who is uneducated about something and yapping from pseudo science and progressive media ignorance. Sad that you do not even know you are a pawn.
Beyond being used for camping it is useless. Having enough storage to be useful will make the bed of the truck useless. If you do need have a truck bed then you do not need a truck to start with. Just another ridiculous product to sell to the twits who do not understand what they are buying and or how needless it is.