Family "sunny" sedan will go on a tour of Australia

Students from the Netherlands (Eindhoven University of Technology) have created a car, which they believe is a great example of using solar energy for a vehicle. The car, called Stella, looks a little strange, but still not as strange as the vast majority of similar "solar" cars. According to the developers, the car can travel up to 600 kilometers using the solar panel on the roof. Stella can carry four people.

In addition, Stella will be participating in the current World Solar Challenge - a kind of rally for solar-powered cars that takes place in Australia every two years. The path length in the World Solar Challenge is impressive: 3,000 kilometers (from Darwin to Adelaide). This year the event will be held from October 6 to 13. The purpose of the current “solar races” is to draw the attention of manufacturers to the possibility of creating commercial cars powered by solar energy, mainly hybrids.

Only hybrids are not in the sense that both an internal combustion engine and an electric engine are used. No, in this case, it implies the use of charging from an electric gas station, plus charging directly from the Sun. This is exactly what Stella is designed to do - about half the energy needed to move during a rally, she receives from her solar battery, and half from electric stations along the way.



the body of the car, for its relief, is made of carbon and aluminum. The interesting thing is that the control panel in the car is touch-sensitive, no buttons, or anything else. I would like to know, of course, how practical and reliable this is, but in October it will become clear how good the idea of ​​the developers was. By the way, the steering wheel has a feedback system - if the driver drives too fast, the steering wheel starts to respond, so the driver has to slow down.



The authors of the project believe that it is now possible to create commercial versions of cars of the above type. That is why they decided to develop their own car, and take part in the Australian "sunny" race.

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