eVe — Solar-Powered Car That Looks And Functions Similar To A Regular Car

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An engineering team from Sydney, Australia has created a solar-powered car that looks like a normal car, functions like a normal car, and certainly appears to be able to completely take the place of one, hopefully within the near-future anyway. The eVe, as the creators have named it, was created specifically for the upcoming World Solar Challenge race in Australia, but as the pictures below show, it certainly seems to have a great deal more potential than that. 🙂

The idea of being able to drive anywhere you like with nothing but the energy of the sun powering you is certainly a compelling one, but the reality has generally been assumed to be at least a couple of decades off — if its possible at all. But looking at the images right now, perhaps a viable commercial concept could come forth sometime a bit sooner?

solar electric car
Image Credit: Sunswift/UNSW


The designers (Sunswift) are currently aiming to get their car registered to drive on city roads.

As reported by the Wall Street Daily, the project’s Lead Mechanical Engineer, Kris Harrison, stated: “At the beginning of this challenge, what we were aiming for is to develop a car which the public could align themselves with, and actually envisage themselves driving around the street. Instead of having the standard solar-powered cars, which look like a blimp and have no boot space or anything practical.”

“The brakes work very well. The steering’s quite responsive. Vision is reasonable,” Paterson continued. “The car isn’t limited to city streets, either. Since eVe can hit upwards of 87 miles per hour, it’s good to go on the open road, too. Not bad, considering that it’s only fueled by the sun’s rays. The next step is to install headlights and side impact protection to get eVe certified as roadworthy.”

solar car
Image Credit: Sunswift/UNSW

“We’ve actually gone to the point of having it almost ready to register before the race. After the race we’ll have a little bit of work to do so we can drive it on a public street.”

Very interesting. What do our readers think?


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James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

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