An adventurous YouTuber set out to drive a Tesla Model X from one end of the Americas to the other — a journey spanning thousands of miles through wildly varying terrain and climates. The trip hit a critical snag in Chile's Atacama Desert, widely regarded as the driest place on Earth, where the battery ran completely flat with no charging station in sight.
Rather than abandon the vehicle, the driver deployed portable solar panels on the roadside along the Pan-American Highway and began a slow trickle charge. The process was painstaking — a large electric SUV like the Model X requires significant energy — but the intense Atacama sun provided enough power to eventually get the car moving again.
The incident, captured on video and widely shared online, is a vivid reminder of the infrastructure challenges that still confront EV drivers venturing beyond well-connected urban corridors. While charging networks in Europe and North America have expanded rapidly, vast stretches of South America, Central Asia, and Africa remain effectively off-limits for EVs without serious contingency planning.
The episode also underscores a growing niche for portable solar as emergency backup for electric vehicles. Though output is modest compared to a fast charger, in a genuine roadside emergency a set of foldable panels can mean the difference between being stranded and getting to safety. For overlanders and long-distance EV adventurers, adding portable solar to the kit list may become standard practice.
Source: Tesla owner uses emergency solar to trickle charge after running out of battery in desert - Electrek· Based on source, with AI-assisted rewriting.
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