One of the problems of electromobility is insufficient charging infrastructure. We talk about it in Europe, but compared to remote parts of Africa or Asia, we have nothing to complain about. A possible solution is a completely new drive concept designed by Dutch students. They have already successfully tested the prototype.
Quite recently, we wrote about a new record set by the Porsche Taycan. During the ten-day expedition, it overcame an extreme elevation and climbed to an altitude that no other electric car had reached up to that time. Due to the route leading through abandoned and inhospitable paths, there was understandably a problem with charging.
However, long-distance journeys through desolate landscapes do not have to be a utopian wish for electric cars. Actually, it doesn’t even have to be expeditions, just trips to less populated areas where electromobility has not yet arrived. This could change the first solar powered off-road electric vehicle.
Stella Terra is still a prototype, but it already has homologation for normal roads. It is remarkable that he was able to drive a 1000 km journey through the inhospitable landscape of North Africa. The route led from Morocco through the mountains to the Sahara desert. He relied only on solar energy. It uses a clever idea combining smaller batteries with a solar range extender. The prototype made it through the journey with only one steering fault, which was resolved in a local workshop.
The project is the work of Dutch students from the Eindhoven University of Technology. Since there is no similar technique, they built the entire car themselves from scratch. At the same time, they had to take into account the weight and maintain high cross-country ability.
The Stella Terra weighs only 1,200 kg and has a limited top speed of 145 km/h due to efficiency. Estimated range was around 630 km. But the system turned out to be much more effective. During sunny days, the range has increased to 710 km on the road and 550 km off-road. When the sun shone less, it was still possible to drive around 670 km.
