You have to wonder when Elon Musk and his idea developers have time to sleep, eat or just have some semblance of life.

Musk’s automaker company, Tesla, is on the road toward creating a van with enough space up top for solar panels.

The world’s richest man, according to most lists these days, who lives in Austin, Texas now, talked about the possibility with fellow Austin resident Joe Rogan on Rogan’s podcast this week. 

The prospect of Tesla potentially making an electric van has been discussed for years, but Musk confirmed that Tesla will make an electric van as soon as battery cell supply allows for it.

Here’s what Tesla’s CEO said: “A van, because you have a big flat area, that’s actually where solar starts making a little more sense.

Solar roofs on electric vehicles rarely are believed to generate enough power to be worth it.

However, solar power tech has become more useful and is starting to make more sense.

“You can also have a roof with solar and then when it is stationary and it goes out from the sides to provide shade,” Musk said. “Now with triple the area and a big flat surface, you can start having enough solar to get something like 30 miles of range per day.”

During Tesla’s earnings call for the last quarter of 2020, TBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak asked Musk about the solar vans.

“I think Tesla is definitely going to make an electric van at some point,” Musk said.

The question of cost remains. Any solar additions would drive up the cost – and it’s not yet at a point to be feasible from a business standpoint, but, with Musk, it’s fair to ask “when,” however, and not “if” when it comes to his latest groundbreaking idea.

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