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View Full Version : Solar car around the world - hit the US shore this week!


Christian P.
02-01-2012, 01:26 AM
Driving around the world is getting a bit different...soon we'll be overlanding in a solar/electric/hybrid Defender.

http://www.gizmag.com/solarworld-gt/21288/

http://images.gizmag.com/hero/solarworldgt.jpg
Owyhee H
02-04-2012, 12:46 AM
I dont know about an expedition vehicle but that is really COOL.
77blazerchalet
03-29-2012, 03:33 AM
Unlike a regular car, however, it weighs in at just 260 kilograms (573 lbs)For comparison's sake, my former tin box econo-hatchback weighed 3 times as much. Thank heavens it was well designed enough not to fold in half when I was T-boned by an early '70s Caprice doing at least 35 mph.

More power to those who can get a car to run on free electricity, but they are going to have to work on harvesting additional juice in order to have something that can haul around a shell strong enough to protect its occupants.
G_fresh
03-29-2012, 04:10 AM
...but they are going to have to work on harvesting additional juice in order to have something that can haul around a shell strong enough to protect its occupants.

...unless we were all driving these lightweight vehicles around...
77blazerchalet
03-29-2012, 04:19 AM
...unless we were all driving these lightweight vehicles around...... with buses and all delivery trucks banished to other roadways... No problem. Plus all of these would be two-seaters at most.
G_fresh
03-29-2012, 04:37 AM
... with buses and all delivery trucks banished to other roadways... No problem.

...unless the busses and delivery trucks were scaled down in weight as well...

Seriously though, the cars would need to be made with better safety features and equipment (i.e. better materials and techniques such as crumple zones and airbags). We can't keep up this "arms race" with the heaviest vehicles winning...
77blazerchalet
03-29-2012, 05:00 AM
...the cars would need to be made with better safety features and equipment ...Yes, which goes back to my original point about my ol' 1800lb-ish Plymouth Champ. Pure physics will dominate the ideal weight of the car in relation to reasonable crash survival requirements under real world driving conditions where other people are likely to be driving heavier vehicles. This car, while admirable in what it demonstrates, is still apparently enslaved to the limitations of what energy it can harvest, thus its astounding weight... or lack thereof.
BlitzleBlat
03-29-2012, 05:13 AM
Hope they dont go thru the DRC, something that shiny and pretty will cost a fortune in tolls and "permit fees"...
G_fresh
03-30-2012, 05:37 PM
...unless the busses and delivery trucks were scaled down in weight as well...

Seriously though, the cars would need to be made with better safety features and equipment (i.e. better materials and techniques such as crumple zones and airbags). We can't keep up this "arms race" with the heaviest vehicles winning...

New Range Rover to loose ~1000 pounds:

http://wot.motortrend.com/we-hear-next-range-rover-dropping-1000-pounds-123817.html

I am assuming that Land Rover's saftey features will not regress...