Built by a team of students at Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE), “the world’s first off-road solar-powered vehicle” could help connect remote areas “where roads are less developed and energy grids are not as reliable,” and assist with emergency aid and deliveries, says Thieme Bosman, events manager for the team.
The team tested the vehicle in Morocco earlier this month, driving more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) between the country’s northern coast and the Sahara Desert in the south.
If it went 621 miles, and 440 was on battery, that means it went 181 miles on solar. Even if that was 4 days, that’s still 45 miles per day on solar. That is an amazing achievement. That’s enough that most people probably would never need to charge except when taking long trips, and would not just be a gimmick at all.
if roof panels were a pretty cheap addon for electrics it would be a no-brainer but they are probably still too expensive to make a lot of sense. better to just make the rest of the car more efficient.