This Solar Tonneau Cover is a nice idea, but how useful is it? – Jalopnik

We all like to get something for nothing. If you’re going to put a tonneau cover on your truck, it might as well have built-in solar panels to generate free electricity. That’s exactly what the Work sport Solis achieved by turning that flat space on top of your truck bed into a solar panel that can keep a power plant charged and ready to go. Worksport offers these for a wide range of trucks, from the small Ford Maverick to the full-size Chevy Silverado, with the recent addition of the Rivian R1T.

But don’t think you can slap one on the back and never have to plug in your Rivian again. It’s a great idea, but it does have some limitations. One is the price, ranging from $1,999 to $2,499 depending on bed size. That’s a lot of money for a cover, but it’s also not the most expensive out there. I found some tonneau covers from File which cost the same or more than Worksport’s, and do not include solar panels. You not only pay more for the solar panels themselves, but also for the custom technology to integrate them into a tonneau cover. That is worth something, especially if you do not have to purchase additional roof racks and mounting materials for solar panels.

The second reason why the output of solar panels varies is that the amount of power they can generate depends on the size of the solar panels. That 600 watt figure probably only applies to the longest beds that Worksport makes them for. The smaller the bed, the less surface area is available for solar cells. Although Worksport does not offer data for specific brands, models and bed lengths on its website, a recent press release When the Rivian R1T solar tonneau cover was announced, it said it generates up to 250 watts for this relatively small bed. For comparison: says Rivian the smallest battery available on the R1T is the R1 Dual Standard, which stores 95.6 kilowatt hours. Divide 95,600 watt hours by 250 watts of charging per hour, and you get 382.4 hours to charge it from empty, according to a rough estimate. In practice, the battery never drops to zero watt-hours, but the point here is that it would still take hundreds of hours to charge the truck solely on solar power. That’s why we still need charging stations, except for electric vehicles that are purpose-built to run solely on solar energy.

Because it might not be. By comparison, the Bluetti Elite 100 V2 is a powerhouse with similar input, output and storage capabilities as the COR, save for the swappable batteries. It’s one of Bluetti’s smaller offerings and retails for $599, much less than the COR. The Elite200 V2 offers double the storage capacity for $1,099, just $150 more than the COR. There are also numerous no-name power plants available for even less money, although the quality may be even more questionable. Fortunately, the Worksport Solis, like any other solar panel, comes with universal MC4 power connections. This means that with the right adapter, which is often supplied with the power station, you can connect to any desired electricity station.

Or you can buy Bluetti’s 350 watt portable solar panel for $649, put it on a regular tonneau cover and have a complete system for less than the cost of the Worksport Solis itself. There’s a lot to be said for the slick integration that Worksport has done here, but if you’re okay with a little less convenience and having to reset it every time, you can save a lot of money and get better electrical capabilities for less money. Many of my van life friends do just that every day.