Following the World Solar Challenge in Australia, which saw 41 solar-powered vehicles spend a week travelling 3,000km between the cities of Darwin and Adelaide, it transpired that the winning vehicle of the competition not only powered itself, but generated spare energy.
The Stella Vie, designed by a Dutch team named Eindhoven, was able to carry five people at an average speed of 69km/h and subsequently resupplied the grid, prompting the event’s organisers to hail it as a practical demonstration of what the future holds.
While the vehicle did not win in terms of speed, it was crowned overall champion based on a scoring system taking into account design, practicality, energy efficiency and innovation.
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“Team Eindhoven are to be congratulated on their achievement to date — clearly the most energy efficient solar car in the field, capable of generating more power than they consume,” said event director Chris Selwood.
“This is the future of solar electric vehicles. When your car is parked at home it can be charging and supplying energy back to the grid.”
Eindhoven equipped the Stella Vie with a smart charging and discharging system that charges the battery from the grid when the demand of energy is high, but which can just as readily supplies surplus energy back to the grid.
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Cars in the race were mostly developed by universities or corporations, with teams hailing from around the world. They were allowed to store a small amount of energy but the majority of their power had to come from the sun and the vehicle’s kinetic forces.
In terms of pure speed, the bi-annual World Solar Challenge, which was first conducted in 1987, was won by another Dutch car, Nuna 9, that won the race for the third-straight time, crossing the finish line on Thursday after travelling at an average speed of 81.2km/h.
