Solar cells in ute cover provide on-the-job power for tradies

November 2, 2020 by Alastair Sloane

Canadian company Worksport has developed a folding tonneau cover for pick-up trucks that contains a cutting-edge solar charging and storage system.

The cover, called TerraVis, uses solar panels to pull in the sun’s energy and send it to removable batteries packaged in the truck’s bed.

It is capable of storing up to 1000W of useable energy, says the company, which can be funnelled through a 4kW AC inverter for use on job lots or campsites, for instance.

Worksport says the system can be made to fit North American pick-up trucks made from 2010 on. “This will electrify those truck beds,” it says. “We will also make a TerraVis model for each forthcoming EV (Rivian, Tesla) in the North American market, as well as GM and Ford trucks.”

The TerraVis system consists of four monocrystalline foldable solar panels tough enough to support the weight of a person. The panels feed a modular battery system mounted on the wall of the truck’s bed.

The batteries are about 2kWh each and the system can have up to four battery packs, plus the 1kWh battery that powers the portable charging pack and its AC inverter.

Once the 1kWh battery module is exhausted, you simply plug it back into the battery rack and in 20 minutes it’s fully charged, provided there’s enough energy in the on-board packs.

“This is a system that not only has the power to revolutionise truck use now, but also to carry over into future developments,” said Worksport CEO, Steven Rossi (see video on home page).

“Everyone is moving towards solar power and renewable energy sources and so is the pick-up truck market. Our system is being designed to, among other things, provide a meaningful source of energy for the new wave of electric trucks.”

If you are in a position to shell out upwards of NZ$600,000 for the 60^thanniversary Porsche 911 S/T or optional Porsche 911 S/T Heritage, you’ll no doubt want the signature titanium watch that goes with it. That’s how Porsche figures it anyway. Or, if you want the watch you’ll need to get the car. Both the car and the watch are limited to 1963 units, the year the original 911 model broke cover. The watch – Chronograph 1 911 S/T and Chronograph 1 911 S/T Heritage – and the car carry matching edition numbers. The watch is priced at $US13,500, or around $NZ22,200. The car, says Porsche NZ, starts at $NZ608,000. A “strictly limited number” will go into production for NZ early next year.

Eight European Union countries are pushing to weaken new EU emissions limits for cars, saying they are overly ambitious and unrealistic for carmakers to hit. The eight countries – France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – said in a joint paper that parts of the proposed Euro 7 regulation, including curbs on exhaust pipe emissions, should be scrapped entirely. They said the limits would force carmakers to invest in improving exhaust emissions performance, money which would be better spent on developing zero-emission vehicles. Taken together, the countries would have enough votes to block the proposal.

A go-anywhere EV concept for the US military uses an onboard 12kW diesel generator to top up the batteries on the move. The all-wheel-drive has 800-volt technology and a 200kWh battery pack to power three electric motors, two in the rear and one up front. Claimed output is 745kW/15,590Nm, or 1000hp and 11,500 ft-lb of torque. The four-seater was developed by the defence division of General Motors and is based on the platform of the Hummer SUV. It rides on Fox performance shock absorbers and 37-inch tyres and comes with “exceptional” approach and departure angles for off-road mobility. Maximum range using the generator to keep things ticking over is said to be around 500km.

The outside temperature in Midland, Texas, was 40.5C when staff at the local office of the US National Weather Service set out to show the cabin of a closed car can literally get baking hot in summer. They mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and laid them on the car’s dashboard – the surface of which showed a temperature of 87.7C. A little over four hours later the cookies were ready to eat. “Even though ours weren’t golden brown, we can confirm that they are done and delicious,” the staff wrote on Facebook.