Their average speed was 15 miles per hour. Eating orange slices to stay hydrated and camping by the side of the road, they took 20 days to drive 2,560 miles across the Australian continent. ![]() A tiller served as the steering system, and the wheels and brakes were borrowed from a bicycle. ![]() In 1982, Tholstrup and racecar driver Larry Perkins unveiled the “the Quiet Achiever” - a boat-shaped, single-driver construction topped by a 90-square-foot solar array. Feeling guilty for his fossil-fuel guzzling exploits - flying around the world, driving a speedboat around Australia - he wanted to do something to benefit the planet. GM officials told the magazine Popular Mechanics their creation was of “no practical application to the automotive industry at present.”īut that challenge was exactly what appealed to Danish adventurer Hans Tholstrup. When the first solar vehicle, the tiny Sunmobile, debuted at a General Motors trade show 65 years ago, even its inventors were skeptical about its prospects. RIGHT: Aptera Motors CEOs Chris Anthony, left, and Steve Fambro with the three-wheel Aptera solar electric vehicle at the company’s production design facility in San Diego. LEFT: A sun-powered car, one of the world’s first, in London in 1960. Aptera Motors CEOs Chris Anthony, left, and Steve Fambro with the three-wheel Aptera solar electric vehicle at the company’s production design facility in San Diego. They just wanted to make a more efficient car.īurning gasoline, it turns out, is not a very efficient way to travel as much as four-fifths of the energy produced by an internal combustion engine is lost as heat, wasted overcoming wind resistance or used up by fuel pumps and other components, according to Energy Department data.Ī sun-powered car, one of the world’s first, in London in 1960. Solar panel powerĪnthony and Fambro didn’t set out to build a vehicle that could run on solar power. The Biden administration has made it a priority to reduce vehicle emissions, and several major automakers have pledged to phase out cars and light trucks with internal combustion engines.Īfter years of dreaming, maybe the time for driving on sunshine is finally here. ![]() Transportation is the largest source of planet-warming pollution in the United States. The shadow of an initial attempt, which ended in bankruptcy, hangs over the founders as they gear up to launch their new product.īut the Aptera’s creators, Chris Anthony and Steve Fambro, think the world needs a car like theirs. Even then, it’s not clear that consumers will want to buy something that looks like a cross between the Batmobile and a beetle. The Aptera must undergo safety tests before the company can begin distribution, which it hopes to do by the end of this year. The car is so efficient that, on a clear day, those cells alone could provide enough energy to drive about 40 miles - more than twice the distance of the average American’s commute. It’s a three-wheel, ultra-aerodynamic electric vehicle covered in 34 square feet of solar cells. ![]() Now, its founders say, the dream can be yours for as little as $25,900.Īptera Motors, a California company whose name comes from the ancient Greek for “wingless,” is rolling out the first mass-produced solar car this year. The laws of physics limit how efficiently solar panels can turn light into energy.īut one start-up claims it has overcome those problems. There are problems with this dream, big ones. Of journeys that last as long as the sun shines. Of travel that doesn’t do damage to the planet. Then a glorified bicycle, a retiree’s garage project, a racecar that crossed the Mojave Desert at 51 miles per hour. The years went on, and the dream evolved into a converted vintage buggy with solar panels on its roof. But it was proof of a concept: Sunlight alone can make a vehicle run. The 12 selenium solar cells that decorated its exterior produced less horsepower than an actual horse. The dream began in 1955, with a tiny, toylike creation called the “Sunmobile.” Built from balsa wood and hobby shop tires, it was just 15 inches long.
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