Students at the Eindhoven University of Technology have created the first family-sized solar powered vehicle. Solar Team Eindhoven, a team of 22 students from different departments within the University, spent a year designing, building, and testing the four-seater and have entered the car (nicknamed "Stella") into the World Solar Challenge, a 3,000 km long race in Australia from Darwin to Adelaide.
Stella generates more power than it uses and can travel 370 miles on a sunny day (about the distance from New York City to Burlington, Vermont) or 250 miles if it's cloudy. It is allowed on public roads in the Netherlands, though there is no information about the car's speed or plans for production. If they do reach that stage someday, we really hope the exterior design is tweaked...a lot. Stella looks like a concept car designed in 1987. The aerodynamics are impressive and so are the electronics and solar-panels that power it, but it is one of the least attractive things we've seen in a while.
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[via TheSuperCarKids]
