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6 futuristic cars powered entirely by the sun
By Cat DiStasio Innovators around the world are obsessed with harnessing the power of the sun. Solar energy has been used to power lamps that light up the night, to run desalinators that create clean drinking water, and to offset fossil fuels on utility grids. But what about solar cars? The world hasn't seen many sun-powered vehicles, but it's not for lack of innovation or competition. In fact, many such cars have competed against one another in the World Solar Challenge, which goes down in Australia. The race has spurred the creation of some of the world's fastest and most efficient sun-powered vehicles, but there's more out there. Some are born purely from a love for clean tech and the rush of innovation that comes from creating something once dismissed as impossible.
Chinese-made solar-powered car gets 150 kilometers on a 30-hour charge
It may not attract the same sort of glances as a Tesla, or a Volt, for that matter, but this solar-powered car built by China's Zhejiang 001 Group is pretty impressive in its own right, both for its price (just $5,560), and it's efficiency. That latter bit is a result of some rather un-integrated solar panels, which absorb 95% of the solar energy they take in and convert it to electricity at between 14 and 17% efficiency, which is actually pretty impressive as far as solar panels go. According to the company, that should let you travel about 150 kilometers on a 30-hour charge, though you'll only be able to go five kilometers on a one-hour charge. No word on a release outside of China, as you might have guessed, but the company has apparently already produced ten of 'em for sale inside the country, with more presumably on the way.[Via The Oil Drum]
Inventor shows off DIY solar-powered vehicle
It may not boast quite the same futuristic styling we've come to expect from some other enviro-friendly vehicles, but inventor Saqr Bin Saif's solar-powered vehicle here looks like it could outlast many of them on the road, and quite possibly run over some of them. It won't be getting anywhere very fast, however, as Bin Saif says the car can only reach a top speed of 50 kilometers per hour (about 30 mph), with four 170 watt solar panels supplying all the power and two batteries storing the energy. Then again, that's not too shabby for a DIY vehicle, which apparently took three months to build after four months of planning. While Bin Saif doesn't have any future plans for this particular vehicle, he doesn't seem to be giving up on the idea all together, saying he's now moving on to a new car that'll be smaller and faster.[Via Autoblog Green]
