Tesla’s new project “Charge Around Australia” has taken the initiative to plan a journey all around Australia that will solely be based on solar panel technology. This 9400-mile journey for Tesla will begin in September, and researchers are utilizing every resource to make it successful. With this in mind, they have collaborated with the scientists at the University of Newcastle, who are the team behind this project. They will be employing their plastic solar panels, which will be printed on Tesla cars, but they are in trial phases right now. They will be examined and verified before they are passed down to Tesla for use. “This is actually a great testbed to offer us knowledge about how we would go about using and powering technologies in other remote regions, such as space,” the developer of the printed solar panels, Paul Dastoor, said.
The trip is expected to start next September with a period of not less than 84 days. This means that the first two hours will be spent on driving the cars charged by the Sun through solar panels, and the next six hours will be utilized for charging, which will be done automatically, side by side while traveling, without wasting a single minute for charging. The plastic solar panels are about 59 feet long and will be deployed on the sides of the Tesla Model 3 to encapsulate the sunlight, which will consequently help them in the charging process when required. These plastic solar panels are made from laminated PET plastic technology. This is the same plastic mechanism that is used in the manufacturing process of water bottles.
An amazing thing about this project is that it not just aims to accomplish it for the sake of popularity and the tag of the new invention, but it tends to inspire others on its way. For this, it would visit 70 schools on its way throughout the 84 days to give exposure to students about this technology, and who knows, someone from that group might get inspiration from this and come up with their new ideas.
The main purpose behind this project is to reduce the carbon footprint on the environment by bringing a trend of charging through solar panels. “The community is looking for these kinds of solutions to the difficulties it faces daily as a result of climate change,” Dastoor added.
