Solar Road Is ‘Total And Epic’ Failure, 83% Of Its Panels Break In A Week

[ABX]

What did they think would happen?

Roughly 25 out of 30 panels installed in a prototype solar road in Idaho broke within a week, after the project received $3.9 million in funding and 6.5 years of development....

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/18/solar-road-has-total-and-epic-failure-as-83-of-its-panels-break-in-a-week/#ixzz4O8046WXS

[r9etb]

What did they think would happen?

What a surprise.  Who knew that cars were heavy, and trucks were heavier, and that bouncy-bouncy will cause breakable things to break?

[geronl]

of course

[Suppressed]

What a surprise.  Who knew that cars were heavy, and trucks were heavier, and that bouncy-bouncy will cause breakable things to break?

None of those factors led to failure.  It says 18 of the 30 were dead from the factory.  Four were killed by poor drainage and rain.

[andy58-in-nh]

None of those factors led to failure.  It says 18 of the 30 were dead from the factory.  Four were killed by poor drainage and rain.

Who needs quality control when government money is involved?

[roamer_1]

Four were killed by poor drainage and rain.

And that ain't allowing for frost yet. No roads last long in the Rockies.

[r9etb]

None of those factors led to failure.  It says 18 of the 30 were dead from the factory.  Four were killed by poor drainage and rain.

True -- and I know better than to post before reading....

That said: did they not do any acceptance testing on the damned things?

And "poor drainage and rain" is not a very difficult condition to meet for any road.  Heavy, wet, melting snow would be equivalent.

[Joe Wooten]

What did they think would happen?

As predicted by any engineer worth his salary. One of the STUPIDER ideas to come out of the alt energy crowd ever. I remember this topic coming up on another board over a year ago and damn near everyone commenting except for myself and a couple of engineers were singing the praises for this idea as the second coming. We were excoriated by the true believers as "not being able to think outside the box", "in the pay of the oil companies and utilities", and "stupidly evil".

[jpsb]

What did they think would happen?

Wrong, the project was a huge success. It brought in nearly $4,000,000.00 for the developers.

[Just_Victor]

As predicted by any engineer worth his salary. One of the STUPIDER ideas to come out of the alt energy crowd ever. I remember this topic coming up on another board over a year ago and damn near everyone commenting except for myself and a couple of engineers were singing the praises for this idea as the second coming. We were excoriated by the true believers as "not being able to think outside the box", "in the pay of the oil companies and utilities", and "stupidly evil".

Well, I suppose it would be a great idea if it weren't for the engineering reality of constructing a road out of exceedingly fragile material.  Maybe we should look into making bridge beams out of glass.

[Suppressed]

The real problem with these is they won't generate a useful amount of power. See EEVBlog videos on Youtube for details.

Oh, I'm well aware of the impracticability of this costly and poorly conceived scheme.  I just wanted to point out that the true believers can still be milked for more $$$.

[Joe Wooten]

Oh, I'm well aware of the impracticability of this costly and poorly conceived scheme.  I just wanted to point out that the true believers can still be milked for more $$$.

Not their $$. Ours, the taxpayers money........

[Smokin Joe]

True -- and I know better than to post before reading....

That said: did they not do any acceptance testing on the damned things?

And "poor drainage and rain" is not a very difficult condition to meet for any road.  Heavy, wet, melting snow would be equivalent.

Every unit should have been tested before installation. If they didn't, that's bordering on criminal stupidity.

[Just_Victor]

@Just_Victor

No, it's way more than just the fragility of the materials. Watch the video I linked above if your interested.

 I'm sure there's a plethora of engineering impossibilities.  That was just the first one that came to mind.

[driftdiver]

What a surprise.  Who knew that cars were heavy, and trucks were heavier, and that bouncy-bouncy will cause breakable things to break?

Its not for roads, its more like a paver to go in sidewalks.   Very poor choice of a product name.

[r9etb]

Its not for roads, its more like a paver to go in sidewalks.   Very poor choice of a product name.

You just have to wonder why they though this would be a practical idea.  When you look at the damage that gets done to regular roads by traffic -- and for those, you don't have to worry about maintaining electrical connections, keeping the dirt off, and so on.

[Smokin Joe]

You just have to wonder why they though this would be a practical idea.  When you look at the damage that gets done to regular roads by traffic -- and for those, you don't have to worry about maintaining electrical connections, keeping the dirt off, and so on.

Even in sidewalks, ice chippers, snow shovels, puking drunks, the stray automobile or motorcycle, all sorts of abuse is heaped on that concrete...