According to foreign media, students from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands have developed a 1,200 kg solar car, Stella Terra, with a range of 630 km. The car is road-legal and does not rely on charging stations at all.
Stella Terra Solar SUV. Image: STE/Bart van Overbeeke
According to the research team, solar-powered cars are road-legal and are not limited to charging stations .
The Stella Terra has a top speed of 145 km per hour, weighs 1,200 kg and has a maximum range of 630 km .
"Stella Terra has to be efficient and light in order to be powered by the sun while withstanding the harsh off-road conditions," said Wisse Bos, team manager for the student team. "So we had to design almost everything on Stella Terra ourselves, from the suspension to the solar panel inverter."
The team said the car is "five to 10 years ahead" of currently marketed photovoltaic-powered cars. The Solar Team Eindhoven, to which the students belong, has built other solar cars for road-only use. According to the statement, the SUV has been tested in the Netherlands and will travel to Morocco with the car team in October to be tested under different conditions.