Australian scientists to power Tesla on 15,000-km trip with printed
solar panels
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[April 20, 2022]
By Stefica Nicol Bikes
GOSFORTH, Australia (Reuters) - Scientists
in Australia are testing printed solar panels they will use to power a
Tesla on a 15,100-km (9,400-mile) journey beginning in September, which
they hope will get the public thinking about steps to help avert climate
change.
The Charge Around Australia project will power a Tesla electric car with
18 of the team's printed plastic solar panels, each 18 metres (59 feet)
long, rolling them out beside the vehicle to soak up sunlight when it
needs a charge.
Paul Dastoor, the inventor of the printed solar panels, said the
University of Newcastle team would be testing not only the endurance of
the panels but their potential performance for other applications.
"This is actually an ideal test bed to give us information about how we
would go about using and powering technology in other remote locations,
for example, in space," Dastoor told Reuters in the town of Gosforth,
north of Sydney.
Printed solar is a lightweight, laminated PET plastic that can be made
at a cost of less than $10 a square metre.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Apr/20/images/ads/current/beasonag_sda_SFARM_2022.png)
The panels are made on a commercial printer originally used for printing
wine labels.
Dastoor said using the panels to power a car would get Australians to
think more about electric vehicles and could help ease their "range
anxiety".
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![](../images/042022pics/news_i43.jpg)
Charge Around Australia project lead and inventor of 'printed solar'
panels Paul Dastoor is pictured next to a printed solar panel and a
Tesla car, in Gosforth, Australia April 10, 2022. Stefica Nicol
Bikes/REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Apr/20/images/ads/current/heartland_lda_NOV2021.png) "(The) community is seeking these
sorts of answers to the problems it's being presented with, day in,
day out, around climate change," he said.
On their 84-day Tesla journey, the team plans to visit about 70
schools to give students a taste of what the future may hold.
Asked what Elon Musk, creator of the Tesla car and founder of Tesla
Inc, might say about the CAA project, Dastoor said he hoped he would
be pleased.
CAA was "showing how our innovative technology is now combining with
his developments to develop new solutions for the planet", Dastoor
said.
Reuters is publishing a series of environmental stories to mark
Earth Day, which falls on April 22. The Earth Day theme for this
year is "Invest In Our Planet".
(Reporting by Stefica Nicol Bikes; Editing by Tom Hogue, Robert
Birsel)
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