Solar-powered family car rides California coast

A solar-powered family car completed the drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco, fueled by good vibes and pure California sunshine.

After turning the heads of gobsmacked onlookers during its journey up California's scenic Pacific Coast Highway, the creators of "Stella" are dreaming of a day when their futuristic vehicle is a commonplace sight.

The lightweight, wedge-shaped automobile is capable of traveling 800 km on a single charge - further if the sun is shining - while clocking 130 km/h.

"It was great to see all the people looking at us; hurrying to get their smartphones out to get pictures while we were driving," said Lex Hoefsloot, manager of Solar Team Eindhoven.

"I think we caused some traffic jams and we were worried some drivers might run into us while trying to take pictures."

Hoefsloot is one of the students at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands who designed and built Stella in what grew into a schoolwide project that won a World Solar Car challenge race across Australia in 2013.

Stella began a US tour in Detroit at the Intelligent Transportation Society World Congress in early September.

The team drove to San Francisco to join sponsor NXP Semiconductors of the Netherlands in an event focused on a future in which roads are made safer and air pollution reduced by cars that "talk" to one another as well as traffic signals.

The street-legal four-seater pulled up to the Dutch consulate residence in San Francisco and eased in front of a red Tesla that was equipped to swap information with the solar-powered cousin.

Inside the car, a tablet computer on the dashboard showed a traffic light and counted down the time until a signal ahead would next turn green. A transmitter in the Tesla let Stella know where it was and what it was doing.

Sun-powered dream

"We think it is possible to make these cars and have them in a showroom in five to 10 years, but it is a big dream and something we have to really work on," said Hoefsloot.

The technology in Stella is not new and if the solar cars were mass-produced like gas-guzzling models, they could be similarly affordable.

Big automakers have had little contact with the team because "they think it is too far-fetched," Hoefsloot said.

"We think otherwise, of course," he said as he leaned on Stella's low, dark roof.

"It is the first family car that is powered by solar energy. It just doesn't have a family yet."

Car components colossus Delphi has been enlisted by General Motors to make auto-to-auto communication modules for future models.

"As more cars have it and people get excited by what it does, then you get safety benefits and it starts to snowball," said Drue Freeman, NXP marketing senior vice president.

"It is time to get the flywheel spinning."

NXP makes chips for Delphi modules tailored for cars to trade information such as proximity or directions of approach.

Ability of vehicles to get real-time data from one another and traffic infrastructure is seen as key to a future with self-driving cars such as those being worked on by Internet giant Google.

(China Daily 09/25/2014 page11)