Nairobi, Kenya is known for it’s huge traffic jams, a thing that is not halfway solved even with bypasses and wider highways. This is usually a problem with city design that is a long term thing from the time the city was designed with a mentality of a quarter of the population there currently is. While the city’s technocrats think of solutions to this problem, students of Eindhoven University of Technology came up with a product that could harness all that time spent in traffic jam.
We will leave out the part where Netherlands is one of the coldest countries in the world with limited access to the sun. Stella, the solar powered family car that was developed by the 22 person team in the World Solar Challenge can seat four people and is powered by solar panels spread out all over the car’s roof
Previously solar powered cars are tiny cars that have a small carrying capacity due to the low power harnessed. Stella is said to be the first solar powered family car with a carrying capacity of four. Stella can do upto 600 kilometers and is made of carbon and aluminium which gives you the idea that it’s very light even with the low long aerodynmic build. The dashboard is a touch screen, several buttons and a steering wheel which expands and contracts depending on the car’s speed.
Now think about all the value this car would have in our sun-kissed continent that would do with all the energy-efficient solutions it can get. Can’t wait for this to go mainstream.
Source: Dezeen
