After solar powered homes, it’s solar powered cars

As solar powered houses, roofs and windows are now grabbing attention, a team just introduced an electricity-generating solar car that can generate more electricity than it uses.

A Dutch team from Eindhoven University of Technology produced the car naming it ‘Stella Vie’. The concept was displayed by the team in World Solar Challenge. The car can transport up to five people using just 48 kWh of electricity at an average speed of 69 kilometers per hour.

The attractive feature of the car was that most of the electricity used was produced during the travelling. The vehicle is able to generate more electricity than it overall consumes. This trait will be a source to clean means of transportation along with letting users to feed power back to the grid.

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Futurism reported, the event director Chris Selwood exclaimed in a press release, “This is the future of solar electric vehicles. When your car is parked at home it can be charging and supplying energy back to the grid.”

According to the team, the car would prove to be a bonus for families and the electric grid, if not being the speediest car on the track. They explained, “Through a smart charging and discharging system she charges the battery when the demand of energy from the grid is high and vice versa. Any surplus energy generated can easily be supplied back to the grid.”

The team explained its goals saying that the idea was to build a family car with a balance between aerodynamic, aesthetic and practical design, informed Phys.

They said, “We think we succeeded very well with a car that is more efficient than its predecessors and includes some state-of-the-art technologies to not only generate energy but also supply it back to the grid.”

Selwood happily expressed, “These incredible solar cars have been designed with the commercial market in mind and have all the features you'd expect in a family, luxury or sporting car.

“Team Eindhoven are to be congratulated on their achievement to date—clearly the most energy efficient solar car in the field, capable of generating more power than they consume,” he concluded.