EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!

[EEVblog]

The only panels that have ever worked are the center twelve.  18 of the panels were defective at the outset and have been used as a border.

Wow, what a screwup.
I assume it was some sort of system issue though rather than 18 panels out of the 30 were delivered faulty?

[EEVblog]

It's neat to see "the real thing" despite this whole idea being absurd.   They are also much thinner and look kinda "cheap" than I expected.

They are supposed to be their latest SR3 panels:
http://www.solarroadways.com/Home/SR3
But yeah, look too flimsy to be used as road tiles. Their original ones were much thicker and were bolted down to a concrete slab.

[andtfoot]

The only panels that have ever worked are the center twelve.  18 of the panels were defective at the outset and have been used as a border.

Wow, what a screwup.
I assume it was some sort of system issue though rather than 18 panels out of the 30 were delivered faulty?

A panel issue seems more likely given the leads were intentionally cut off at the panels (as opposed to being wired in anyway for the system to fixed later).

[Towger]

IMHO it is time politicians should pass a math and physics test before being allowed to become part of the government.

It would make no difference.  The most common former occupation for irish politicians is a teacher.

Some companies business is getting government grants in the name of research or charity services etc.

[daqq]

Hold the presses!
There is a film coming:
http://www.solarroadwaysfilm.com/

Guess the plot 

Maybe you will be featured... who's the best actor for a villain with an Australian accent?

[LabSpokane]

It's neat to see "the real thing" despite this whole idea being absurd.   They are also much thinner and look kinda "cheap" than I expected.

They are supposed to be their latest SR3 panels:
http://www.solarroadways.com/Home/SR3
But yeah, look too flimsy to be used as road tiles. Their original ones were much thicker and were bolted down to a concrete slab.

The issue that damaged the tiles occured in the vacuum curing oven. Apparently, the PCBs were delaminated due to the internal forces during curing.

[max_torque]

And how long did it take them to install these tiles?  Round my way, the road and pavement (sidewalk for the US types... ;-) are thrown together in the shortest amount of time possible, no way is there time to fix complex electronics or route wires and install control boxes.  And increasingly, the pavements are being cut up and relaid to allow more and more network/power infrastructure to go in underneath them.  Adding more expense to that process would also be economic suicide...

And of course, the next big thing in the automotive world in peer2peer networks between road vehicles, meaning smart road surfaces with configurable signage is obsolete before it's even installed!

[rrinker]

 Now that brings up an interesting point. Here in the US, this likely wouldn't be a problem since they already like to drag out road work projects as long as possible. Back in my youth, I did some road construction work (for a private company - I mostly was working with my neighbor, who owned a trucking company, but he occasionally helped out his father, who owned a construction company, so I got to experience such wonderful things as spraying hot tar on a day when it was 95F and 80% humidity - there wasn't a better motivator for studying hard so I could get accepted at a good university) and if we as a private company ever took as long as these government jobs, the company would have been out of business for lack of work. No one would hire us if we worked that slowly. For example, they spent TWO YEARS on a 2 mile stretch of 4 lane road here, and all that got accomplished was some cracked sections of concrete were replaced - they whole road never got resurfaced, and now after one winter freeze/thaw cycle, it's as bad as it was BEFORE they "fixed" it.
 Which is another point - I don't think they care if these solar roadway blocks last 5 or 10 years. They'll make a bundle, at taxpayer expense, replacing defective ones every year. It's public money, it's effectively endless to these morons. When the first private company paves their parking lot with these things, using their own money, not taxpayer dollars, then maybe we'll see. But I don't see too many lining up to foolishly waste their money when for less cost they can cover the roof of their building AND get better power output AND not have to worry about what happens in their parking lot. Then the "green" politicians turn around and say see, the government MUST fund this stuff because no one will invest. Yes, because no one wants to throw away money on bullshit.

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

Now that brings up an interesting point. Here in the US, this likely wouldn't be a problem since they already like to drag out road work projects as long as possible. Back in my youth, I did some road construction work (for a private company - I mostly was working with my neighbor, who owned a trucking company, but he occasionally helped out his father, who owned a construction company, so I got to experience such wonderful things as spraying hot tar on a day when it was 95F and 80% humidity - there wasn't a better motivator for studying hard so I could get accepted at a good university) and if we as a private company ever took as long as these government jobs, the company would have been out of business for lack of work. No one would hire us if we worked that slowly. For example, they spent TWO YEARS on a 2 mile stretch of 4 lane road here, and all that got accomplished was some cracked sections of concrete were replaced - they whole road never got resurfaced, and now after one winter freeze/thaw cycle, it's as bad as it was BEFORE they "fixed" it.
 Which is another point - I don't think they care if these solar roadway blocks last 5 or 10 years. They'll make a bundle, at taxpayer expense, replacing defective ones every year. It's public money, it's effectively endless to these morons. When the first private company paves their parking lot with these things, using their own money, not taxpayer dollars, then maybe we'll see. But I don't see too many lining up to foolishly waste their money when for less cost they can cover the roof of their building AND get better power output AND not have to worry about what happens in their parking lot. Then the "green" politicians turn around and say see, the government MUST fund this stuff because no one will invest. Yes, because no one wants to throw away money on bullshit.

Agree with most of what you say, all except the last bit. I think they got a lot of support from Crowdfunding too.  So it seems lots of people want to throw money away on bullshit.
Remember also uBeam and some of the other crowd funding cons.
I'm no psychologist but it seems we humans just see what we want to see and disregard the rest.

[LabSpokane]

The forum just got linked to from the comments on a slashdot article:

http://m.slashdot.org/story/317007

[EEVblog]

Please just drive around the pole and onto the tiles 

[amspire]

I'm no psychologist but it seems we humans just see what we want to see and disregard the rest.

Is that called confirmation bias? Whatever it is called it is as prevalent here as it is anywhere.

Ah yes - the ancient wisdom from the dawn of time (1960's pop music):

I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles,
Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still, a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest.

[drussell]

Please just drive around the pole and onto the tiles 

Oh, I'm pretty sure that if I were there, I would have done that already...  Perhaps with the Dakota or maybe my 1-ton van, especially if I had the tire chains on it at the time:



LOL..  I suppose that would be some interesting video... 

[LabSpokane]

It may be amusing to talk about, but I do hope no one considers or acts upon vandalizing the installation.  It will be totally counterproductive at this point.

[coppice]

It may be amusing to talk about, but I do hope no one considers or acts upon vandalizing the installation.  It will be totally counterproductive at this point.

Why would simply driving a lightweight vehicle over the tiles be vandalism? Its supposed to be a demo of a roadway, not a pedestrian pathway.

[AlfBaz]

It's neat to see "the real thing" despite this whole idea being absurd.   They are also much thinner and look kinda "cheap" than I expected.

They are supposed to be their latest SR3 panels:
http://www.solarroadways.com/Home/SR3
But yeah, look too flimsy to be used as road tiles. Their original ones were much thicker and were bolted down to a concrete slab.

Why would simply driving a lightweight vehicle over the tiles be vandalism? Its supposed to be a demo of a roadway, not a pedestrian pathway.

In this previously posted link http://cityofsandpoint.com/visiting-sandpoint/solar-roadways#ad-image-3
under "Solar Roadways Installation" it says walkable/bike-able surface

In the link to the SR3 posted by Dave it doesn't mention what the new tiles are good for, only that they are now cheaper to make and have more colourful LEDs

Me thinks they're seeing the new and probably more feasible market of disco tiles

[AlfBaz]

[LabSpokane]

It may be amusing to talk about, but I do hope no one considers or acts upon vandalizing the installation.  It will be totally counterproductive at this point.

Why would simply driving a lightweight vehicle over the tiles be vandalism? Its supposed to be a demo of a roadway, not a pedestrian pathway.

As with every one of these types of projects, the goal posts were quietly moved to "electric disco sidewalk" while retaining the name "Solar Roadways."

[DrGeoff]

It may be amusing to talk about, but I do hope no one considers or acts upon vandalizing the installation.  It will be totally counterproductive at this point.

Why would simply driving a lightweight vehicle over the tiles be vandalism? Its supposed to be a demo of a roadway, not a pedestrian pathway.

As with every one of these types of projects, the goal posts were quietly moved to "electric disco sidewalk" while retaining the name "Solar Roadways."

Some local politician put his cock-on-the-block over this one so you can be assured it will be a roaring success and 'the future of roadways and renewable energy' will be spun to death by PR and media no matter what happens. Technical absurdities are easily brushed aside with simple meaningless cliches.

[ataradov]

And here is a solution for boosting energy output at night!

[amspire]

The next logical phase of solar roadways would be to require all vehicles have solar panels on the roof and bonnet and downward shining LEDS along the bottom of the vehicle, so that the panels still produce electricity even when covered by a vehicle.

Excluding scientific, economic, aesthetic and practical concerns, it is a perfect solution.

[EEVblog]

LOL!
Some kids trying to beat up the panels at night!
https://twitter.com/ytgadgetaddict/status/783561463021436930/video/1

[jonovid]

LOL! Some kids trying to beat up the panels at night!

its the peter brock polariser of our time, its just art. Installation art  or a public play thing

[Fungus]

Here's another thing I don't think anybody has mentioned yet:

How much traffic stoppage will these things cause?

I'm inventing numbers, but .... I can easily imagine that (eg.) one of these panels will get smashed every day for every 10 miles of road. You're driving trucks on glass.

When one breaks you'll have a glass-filled pothole where the panel used to be. You simply can't have that on a high speed motorway/highway. You need to shut down (at least) one lane of the road immediately and it needs to be fixed ASAP.

Even with a lot of F1-pit-crew style of training it will take a while for a repair crew to set up all the mandatory traffic cones, stop the traffic, change the panel, etc. I'd say twenty minutes at least with at least two traffic lanes closed. We all know that "F1-pit-crew" speeds aren't going to happen so call it half an hour or more to replace a panel.

So:
a) Every long stretch of solar road would probably have a lane closed at any given time.
b) The entire road will need to be closed to traffic for half an hour or more every day to fix broken panels.
b) All those panel replacement crews will be very expensive. How many crews would you need on standby for a major city at rush hour?

[Fungus]

LOL!
Some kids trying to beat up the panels at night!
https://twitter.com/ytgadgetaddict/status/783561463021436930/video/1

Kids today. Don't they teach them anything at school?

Whacking it with a skateboard won't work, you need something pointy and hit it in the corner.


Anybody want to bet on how long it will take for security guards to appear? I'm surprised it didn't have them since day one.