When you conjure up an image of a solar powered vehicle, what comes to mind? Is the car a futuristic DeLorean type or just a regular four-wheel, four door generic compact car? Well, it can be both! And speaking of the DeLorean, the company that owns it recently put out a tweet hinting that: ‘The next generation of DeLorean is coming into focus August 18, 2022.’.
Solar powered cars are having a moment. Since 2020 the Aptera Motor company has been taking pre orders for its first mass produced solar powered consumer vehicle. A company called Atlas Technologies has developed a high-end solar power vehicle that will be available in 2022 and Sono Motors has revealed the Sion that has a range of 190 miles on a single sun charge and will be available for a fair price of $34,000.
History of the Solar Powered Car
Taking a look at this cool timeline by solarpower.guide‘s called the ‘History of the Solar Powered Car’ we can see many wildly different vehicle models over the years.
In 1985 solar-powered cars took part in the world’s first ever race in Switzerland. The Tour de Sol was a rally like no other. Thousands watched vehicles powered by the sun take part in this race of 72 participants.
In 93′ the US started the Solar Car Challenge which included teams with solar powered cars from all over the world. By 2007 the cars were breaking speed records. The Jaycar Sunswift III broke the record for the fastest journey across Australia by a sun powered vehicle.
In 2014 the Sunswift eVe broke the world record for the fastest electric car over 310 miles, it held an average speed of 66 mph.
Read on to find more fun facts about the history of the solar powered car and see what consumer model available within the next three years that you would buy.
