Cars running on gasoline are destined to perish, to the despair of oil companies from across the globe. Meanwhile, electric cars gain more ground, and now that the first solar-powered car has been invented, the battle is far from being over.
It’s not a matter of whether the gasoline cars will disappear or not, but who will take its place. Electric cars are getting more and more popular, but the price is still prohibitive for some. Not to mention that in some countries, it’s impossible to find charging stations when needed. On the other hand, harvesting solar energy is possible all over the world. With that in mind, students from the Eindhoven University of Technology created the first solar-powered family car in the world and named it Stella.
If anything, I’d say that the Dutch people are obsessed with turning the others green. Personally, I love their mentality. These people ride their bikes even in the winter, have some of the widest wind farms in the world and are generally preoccupied with making life on Earth better. And the best thing of all? They’re taught such things at an early age. The invention of this solar car is firm proof of that.
As seen in the above picture and in the following video, the car is very long and short, but its tail is said to play an important role in the aerodynamics of the vehicle. According to its inventors, Stella is capable of covering 600 km on a charge. In the near future, it will compete in Australia’s World Solar Challenge, a 3,000 kilometer race between Adelaide and Darwin.
The carbon and aluminum car features a touchscreen dashboard, a unique steering wheel and other exceptional features. In this context, I rather doubt that it will be mass produced anytime soon.
Solar Team Eindhoven stated: “The design of the car of the future has to meet the needs of modern consumers. The car must be capable of transporting a family from the Netherlands to France in one day, it needs to be suitable for the daily commute to work, and it needs to achieve all this in comfort. Since Solar Team Eindhoven wants to contribute to the development of a car of the future, the design demands more than just a focus on speed. Comfort, ease of use, and feasibility are all key terms.”
If you liked this post, please check the Volkswagen solar supercar and this tutorial on how to build a solar RC car.
