A deep dive into the technical details of Tesla Model 3's super glass

After Tesla and SolarCity released a solar roof product at the end of last month, the highly confidential project "Tesla Glass" gradually surfaced. As Tesla officially announced that it would use this material on the Model 3 to be launched next year, industry insiders became excited. Solar houses and solar cars, integrated clean energy life seems to be just around the corner.

I hope so. But it's still worth taking a closer look at what Tesla Glass is. After all, there are almost no specific technical details in the official materials so far.

"Super Glass" team emerges

According to the structural diagram published on Tesla's official website, the solar roof tiles consist of a layer of colored light-transmitting film covering a high-efficiency solar panel, and the outermost layer is tempered glass. The tempered glass is responsible for the resistance to various temperatures and object impacts, the colored light-transmitting film is responsible for light transmission and visual beauty, and the solar panel is responsible for converting solar energy.

Among them, solar panels are produced by Panasonic and SolarCity. If the shareholders vote on the 17th to approve Tesla's acquisition of SolarCity, the two parties will manufacture solar panels at the SolarCity factory in Buffalo, New York, USA; the colored translucent film is developed by 3M.

In an interview with the media, 3M said that Tesla approached them and proposed the design concept of colored light-transmitting film, and then 3M designed and developed it. This light-transmitting film can maximize light transmittance and improve light energy conversion. At the same time, the special louver-like film structure makes the color of the entire tile change according to the different light angles, so that the solar roof looks like an ordinary roof from the street, and the panels can only be seen when looking down from above.

Now it seems that this color-changing transparent film is the key to Tesla's solar roof beating all previous similar products, because it solves the problem of aesthetics. In the past, solar roofs looked like a solar panel on the roof, and there was no architectural beauty. The outermost layer of tempered glass is a flexible glass material, which should be the main part developed by the Teslaglass team. This flexible glass will have a rebound force when impacted by external forces, thereby protecting objects.

Tesla later mentioned that Teslaglass will be used in Model 3, which has sparked the imagination of many people. First of all, the Model 3's extra-large windshield and roof may use this special material to use solar energy to power the car's components and even power. Secondly, various touch-screen devices in the car are also very likely to use this flexible glass. We might as well imagine boldly that as glass material technology continues to improve and there are more choices in color, this flexible material with solar energy can even be used for the entire car body. After all, high strength + resilience can protect people inside and outside the car at the same time. (Don't say that the cost is too high to be considered. Low-cost rockets have been built, so nothing is impossible)

Future of solar rooftop deployment depends on cost and efficiency

Solar roofs and solar cars are not new concepts. For solar products, the most important issues are still cost and energy efficiency. Musk said at the press conference that the overall cost of using this solar roof is lower than that of traditional tile roofs. He said that the production cost of this special glass material is not high.

In fact, SolarCity acquired Silevo, a company specializing in the production of solar panels, in 2014. It is reported that the company's technology can help SolarCity improve energy utilization and thus reduce costs. In 2015, SolarCity announced the development of the world's most efficient solar panel, with an energy utilization rate of up to 22%. Compared with similar panels on the market, SolarCity said that energy utilization can be increased by 30% to 40% while maintaining the same size and reducing mass production costs.

There is no doubt that as long as Musk is interested, he can force his team to constantly challenge the technical limitations, otherwise his rockets will not be built. When talking about a certain component in the rocket development process, a scientist under Musk said that at NASA, many discussions will be held to discuss this issue, and the cost of snacks and drinks during the meetings is higher than the budget given by Musk.

Therefore, it can be expected that Tesla and SolarCity have developed lower-cost solar panel technology, paving the way for larger-scale promotion.

There are doubts

Because the details of this super glass material were not announced, the energy efficiency and strength of the solar tiles still caused a lot of controversy after the product was released. Many experts said that under the existing technical conditions, the energy efficiency claimed by Musk is difficult to achieve.

In fact, the solar panels of Tesla and Solar City use the third-generation solar thin-film power generation technology, which basically represents the future development trend of solar technology. Because thin-film batteries are thin and flexible, their industrial applications will be more extensive in the future. Japan has developed clothes made of thin-film solar cells (I don’t know what point is) and spacecraft (Musk said: This is possible). However, the premise of large-scale promotion is still energy efficiency and cost. Scientists from many European countries have established an alliance for solar thin-film technology and announced that they will develop solar thin-film batteries with an energy efficiency of about 25%. In fact, as long as the conversion efficiency is high enough, it is not difficult to build a car.

In fact, Tesla's solar roof and cars made of super glass can also be seen as "star products" for popularizing thin-film power generation technology around the world. After all, thin-film power generation technology has always been an important but slow future topic in solar energy technology, and it has not been able to realize its potential due to various current limitations.

This gives me even more confidence that Musk can force his team to realize the potential of this technology and bring us more futuristic products.

PS, I am worried that if something unexpected happens during the acquisition vote on the 17th, everything will go down the drain. After all, the acquisition of Suncity will allow everything to continue, and we will have the opportunity to see if Musk can create a miracle.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.