The first UAE-made solar-powered car will make its first public appearance at the forthcoming EPIC Dubai Sustainable Living Expo later this month.
Designed by Lootah Technical Centre the car is capable of travelling at 45km/h and was unveiled by solar circumnavigator Louis Palmer to UAE’s minister of environment and water, Rashid Bin Fahd earlier this week.
The car weighs just 170kg, although its lightweight frame has an obvious drawback: no air conditioning.
“It is a basic solar powered car,” said Denis Lefrancois, general manager, Sustainable Media Group, the joint venture between Globe Events and Lootah International. “We started building it about five months ago but plans started much much earlier than that.”
He continued: “We want to generate excitement about solar cars. This is a zero footprint, zero emissions car that can sustain itself with no batter. We need to get everybody involved in a very big way. We wanted to build a car like this to show how it works but we could open it up to universities to come with ideas to improve it.”
The solar car will be displayed at the EPIC event in the Dubai Mall between 22-25 June.