Dutch Students Prepare Solar-Powered Family Car

Student engineers from the Netherlands' Eindhoven University of Technology are testing what they describe as the world's first four-passenger solar-powered car.

The car, dubbed Stella, will participate in this year's World Solar Challenge, a 3,000-km (1,900-mile) race across Australia on Oct. 6-13. The vehicle will compete in the 26-year-old event's new "cruiser" class, which emphasizes practicality over speed.

The students say their car, whose tapered rear end serves as a large trunk, can achieve a top speed of 75 mph with four people on board.

A large array of monocrystalline silicon solar cells on the vehicle's roof reportedly generates at least 700 watts. The front-drive car will be powered by two in-wheel direct-drive electric motors that also generate electricity during vehicle braking. An onboard lithium-ion battery can store enough power to propel the vehicle for 600 km (370 miles) between recharges, according to the team.

To minimize vehicle weight, the students fabricated Stella with a sandwiched-aluminum "backbone" chassis and carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic body.

The car is equipped with several novel features, including touchscreen-only controls and a steering wheel that expands and contracts to signal whether the car is traveling too fast or too slow.