See How the World’s First Solar-Powered Car Could Reshape Our Future

Don’t tell students that a solar-powered car is not in the zeitgeist. Indeed, a group of engineering students from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands just completed a 620-mile drive across Morocco in an electric SUV, and they traveled that distance without stopping once at a charging station. This would be impressive range for any battery-powered vehicle, as even the most efficient ones on sale today are projected to cover just over 500 miles per charge. What made this achievement even more amazing was the fact that the entire trip was fueled by solar panels mounted on the roof of the vehicle. The students named the vehicle Stella Terra.

“Stella Terra’s efficiency was hard to predict,” team manager Wisse Bos said in a statement. “That’s why we weren’t sure if we would make it on solar power.” But during the ride, the vehicle actually used 30% less energy than the team had expected. “We were able to drive the entire trip on the sun’s energy,” Bos said.

The team achieved this milestone for a variety of reasons, all of which are connected to Stella Terra’s bespoke design, the componentry for which was custom created by the students. “We had to design almost everything for Stella Terra ourselves, from the suspension to the inverters for the solar panels,” said Bos.

The vehicle has an incredibly aerodynamic shape, with a sloped, teardrop-like rear that cheats the wind, allowing less resistance. Because it is capable of charging while it drives, via the solar panels on its roof, it can carry a smaller battery pack, which helps reduce weight. It thus weighs just 2645 pounds, or about 40% lighter than the average new car in America. And lighter vehicles tend to move more efficiently.

All of this light-weighting also allows the Stella Terra to tread over uneven surfaces, without getting bogged down. According to a statement from the team, in Morocco, the solar-powered car traveled through dry riverbeds, forested areas, along steep mountain trails, and through loose desert sand. “It is already difficult in normal conditions to build an energy-efficient car that can handle rough conditions, let alone to integrate solar panels into the car as well,” said Maarten Steinbuch, a professor at the university the students attend, and an advisor to the project.

Despite being experimental, Stella Terra is fully road legal, capable of traveling at speeds of up to 90 mph. When the car is stationary, the rooftop panels fold out to increase the charging surface and enhance the rate at which solar energy can be absorbed. The panels double as an awning, providing shade. (The seats inside recline into a bed as well, in case you want to recharge while the car recharges.)

Though Stella Terra is not production ready, many of the features it contains could soon make it into new cars, and could have profound impact on how we generate and consume electric energy, not just in our vehicles, but at home. “I expect that in five to ten years electric cars will be part of our entire energy grid system,” Steinbuch says. “And when the home battery makes its appearance, it will even be possible to generate energy via a solar-powered car and deliver it back to your home. Solar Team Eindhoven’s innovations could change the future.”