Dutch students drive car 1,000 kms in North Africa – on just sunshine

In a single hour, the amount of energy from the sun that strikes the Earth is more than what the entire world requires for a whole year. How wonderful it would be if this sunshine  can be converted easily to power machines and provide electricity for everything we use in our daily lives.

Although using sunshine as a source of energy was known as far back as the 3^rd century BC, the conversion of solar energy into electricity was first made possible with the development of silicon photovoltaic cell technology in 1954. Since then, the use of solar panels to capture and convert solar energy has continued to advance to the stage where vehicles can be powered with the electricity generated.

At the Eindhoven University of Technology in Holland, a group of students (aged 21 – 25) formed a team called Solar Team Eindhoven to develop the first off-road car – the Stella Terra – powered by the energy of the sun. The team has previously won the World Solar Challenge in Australia 4 times in a row, competing in the family car class (Cruiser Class).

Building a self-sustaining off-road vehicle powered by solar energy presented new challenges and, as far as known, it is the first of its kind worldwide. “Stella Terra must withstand the harsh conditions of off-roading while remaining efficient and light enough to be powered by the sun. That is why we had to design almost everything for Stella Terra ourselves, from the suspension to the inverters for the solar panels,” said Wisse Bos, team manager of Solar Team Eindhoven.

The solar energy for the Stella Terra is collected by solar panels on the roof. With these solar panels and its robust construction, the car Terra can achieve complete independence of energy resupply in a sustainable manner, anywhere in the world.

The prototype solar car has been designed to be road-legal, has a top speed of 145 km/h, weighs only 1,200 kgs, and can travel up to 710 kms on a sunny day. It can store electricity in a lithium-ion battery pack which can be used when necessary.

The shape of the car was dictated by the need to be aerodynamically efficient but more importantly, to have as much space for the solar cells as possible. If you see pictures of other solar cars, you will note that they have large flat surfaces to place the panels for maximum exposure to sunshine. This makes a practical design difficult but, nevertheless, the team managed to come up with something that is reasonably close to a normal car.

According to Bos, the Stella Terra is 5 to 10 years ahead of the current market. “We are pushing the boundaries of technology. With Stella Terra, we want to demonstrate that the transition to a sustainable future offers reasons for optimism and encourages individuals and companies to accelerate the energy transition.”

Mobility expert and Eindhoven University of Technology professor Maarten Steinbuch is impressed with the team. “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. I haven’t seen anyone do that yet,” he said.

“I expect that in 5 to 10 years, electric cars will be part of our entire energy grid system. And when the home battery makes its appearance, it will even be possible to generate energy via a solar car and deliver it back to your home. Solar Team Eindhoven’s innovations could change the future,” he added.

Having developed and then built the prototype, the team wanted to demonstrate that it can deliver on its promise and planned a 1,000-km test-drive from northern Morocco to the Sahara. The region, with dry riverbeds, forests, steep mountain trails and loose desert sand, has one constant: plenty of sunshine which means energy availability non-stop.

They recently completed the mission with a positive ending. “Stella Terra’s efficiency was hard to predict. That’s why we weren’t sure if we would make it on solar power. During the ride, Stella Terra turned out to use 30% less energy than expected. We were able to drive the entire trip on the sun’s energy and did not depend on charging stations,” said Bos.

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