When envisioning the cars of the future, many innovative auto manufacturers are looking for ways to move beyond fossil fuels towards sources of renewable energy. Already, vehicles like those manufactured by Tesla, amongst others, are transitioning away from gasoline in favor of electric motors powered by large capacity batteries.

One issue with these electric cars is that they still rely on the traditional power grid to charge their batteries. On the whole, power generation across the world is still heavily carbon-dependant, whether from coal or oil.

While some hydroelectric, wind, and solar power stations exist, they still represent only a small part of the power we generate. In the United States, only about 10% of the power we generate comes from renewable sources. Electric cars are a promising step in the right direction, but for some they’re not enough.

Taking Cars Off The Grid

Solar power could have the potential to become a viable source of renewable energy for vehicles. This is largely due to the fact that sunlight hits most of the planet’s surface every day. On a daily basis, the sun produces 5 X 1023 horsepower per second.

Solar powered cars are at the center of the World Solar Challenge, a biennial race that’s held every two years in Australia. The race sees teams from around the world competing in a mammoth 1,9000 mile dash across the Outback. What sets this race apart from others of its kind is that all the vehicles taking place must be completely powered by solar energy.

The event is intended to showcase not just the brilliance of the students and teams involved in the race, but also the potential viability of solar powered vehicles. The hope is that ultimately, the innovative vehicles developed as a result of this race can perhaps become the forerunners to sustainable, solar powered, off-the-grid cars that may someday be available to everyday drivers.

Why Solar?

With so many different renewable sources of energy being researched and developed, why is solar such a strong candidate as the power source for the car of the future? Part of the reason is its reliability.

Commuter cars often spend a large part of the workday parked outside the office. Imagine if the parking lot outside your office was your own passive recharging station, allowing your car’s batteries to recharge each day until you were ready to head home. For commuters, the possibilities of a solar powered vehicle are intriguing to say the least.

Solar Powered Family Cars?

Already a prototype for what could become the first solar powered family car exists. The ‘Stella Lux’ was developed by a team from the University of Eindhoven to compete in the World Solar Challenge. The Stella seats four and is powered completely by the sun. The Stella could be a significant step towards a viable solar powered vehicle in that it’s one of the first vehicles of its kind to use less energy than it produces during the course of a day.

We may still be a good way off from a viable, commercially produced solar powered car. However the potential of such vehicles to reduce greenhouse gases and reduce our dependency on fossil fuels make them an innovation that is certainly worth exploring.

If you’d like to find out how installing solar panels on your roof can help you drive your electric bill down to zero, contact us today for a free quote.