Stella Terra, a two-seater car designed by students from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, is called "the world's first off-road solar SUV" and has just completed a 620-mile (1,000-kilometer) test drive across Morocco and the Sahara Desert without stopping to recharge.
According to reports, Stella Terra can drive on the road, has a top speed of 145 kilometers per hour, weighs only 1.2 tons, and has a cruising range of up to 700 kilometers on sunny days.
Relying solely on the car's built-in solar panels, the vehicle traveled from the north coast of Morocco through the off-road trails of the Rif Mountains and into the sand dunes of the Sahara Desert.
Wisse Bos, the project's team manager, said the technology behind the car's performance is a decade ahead of anything else currently on the market.
Stella Terra completed a 1,000-kilometer test drive across Morocco and the Sahara Desert.
He said that Stella Terra must be able to withstand harsh off-road conditions while remaining efficient, lightweight, and able to be powered by the sun. Therefore, the R&D team designed almost all components of Stella Terra themselves, from the suspension to the inverter of the solar panels.
To ensure that the car can run on solar power alone, engineers had to make the chassis as light as possible.
Lightweight construction and bespoke suspension mean Stella Terra is less affected by harsh road conditions.
This becomes a big advantage when off-road, as the lightweight construction and bespoke suspension mean Stella Terra is less affected by harsh road conditions.
The car also has a built-in lithium-ion battery, which means it can travel shorter distances on less sunny days and can be recharged via traditional charging stations.
Boss said Stella Terra actually exceeded some of the team’s expectations, using 30% less energy than expected and allowing the team to complete the entire trip without using any charging stations.
The level of power provided by solar panels is so high that there is even energy left over at the end of the day for cooking and charging devices.
StellaTerra's roof can be folded into a larger canopy to improve charging efficiency when stationary or provide shade for roadside picnics.
The team also found that converters customized for automotive solar panels were up to 97% efficient at converting sunlight into electricity.
By comparison, the most efficient solar panels on the market are generally no more than 45% efficient.
Maarten Steinbuch, an automotive expert and professor at the University of Eindhoven, said he was impressed by the team's engineering efforts.
He said that under normal circumstances it would be difficult to build a fuel-efficient car that could handle harsh conditions, let alone integrate solar panels into the car. The technology demonstrated by StellaTerra may have a wider impact on future driving technology.
However, to change the world, solar cars must first become commercially viable. StellaTerra's design is not for profit, and all its funds come from sponsorships. The team said it could not comment on how much it cost to build the car.
For advanced solar cars, production costs are indeed a big issue.
Atlas Technologies, a company founded by graduates of Eindhoven's solar project, was forced to file for bankruptcy after insufficient sales of its €500,000 car.
However, the company later relaunched as a subsidiary of Dutch company Lightyear and launched a new model that costs $40,000 and has a range of 804 kilometers between charges.
Another issue with solar cars is weather, because while this design may work in the sunny Sahara, it may not be a good fit in other climates.
The Sahara receives about 10 to 13 hours of sunshine per day and the intensity of the sun is significantly higher than elsewhere in the world, making it possible to generate more solar energy.
However, solar cars are still viable in European climates, as a team from Eindhoven proved when they drove a solar-powered camper 3,000 kilometers from the Netherlands to the southernmost tip of the continent.