Audi’s victory in the Dakar proved that the desert sands and other hardships of those regions can be overcome by an electric car, albeit one with a petrol engine to produce the energy.
But, given the necessary proportions, what was achieved by Stella Terra – a laboratory car of the Solar Team Eindhoven – in which the charging of the batteries is entrusted exclusively to photovoltaic panels is also an undertaking.
Stella Terra has in fact reached the Sahara after 1,000 kilometers through Morocco using the sun’s energy and not depending on charging stations. This solar car prototype, approved for road circulation, has a maximum speed of 145 km/h and weighs (including batteries) only 1,200 kg.
And above all it has an autonomy of 710 km on a day of full sun, as it was possible to exploit in the event. Off-road, the average range is around 550km, depending on the surface the Stella Terra traveled on.
“It was an incredible journey with a positive ending – explains team manager Wisse Bos who, like the whole team, is part of the University of Eindhoven – The efficiency of Stella Terra was difficult to predict. That’s why we weren’t sure if we would succeed to do it with solar energy alone. But during the journey, Stella Terra used 30% less energy than we had expected.”
In this car with a ‘questionable’ shape but optimized to offer the maximum surface area exposed to solar rays, the energy is collected by the photovoltaic panels that are part of the bodywork itself.
The first solar off-road vehicle in the world, Stella Terra has demonstrated that it “can withstand the harsh conditions of the route in Morocco – said Bos – while remaining efficient and light enough to be powered by the sun.
That’s why we had to design almost everything for Stella Terra ourselves, from suspensions to inverters for solar panels” – “We are pushing the boundaries of technology – underlined the team director – and with Stella Terra we want to demonstrate that the transition towards a sustainable future can be approached with optimism”. According to Bos this car is “five to ten years ahead of the current market”.
The Solar Team Eindhoven, which is part of the technical university of the Dutch city of the same name, builds innovative and efficient cars powered by the sun. The team has already won the World Solar Challenge in Australia four consecutive times, competing in the cruiser class.
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Source: Ansa
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