The Solar Team Eindhoven (STE) of TU/e presented the world’s
first solar-powered family car today. ‘Stella’ is the first ‘energy-positive
car’ with room for four people, a trunk, intuitive steering and a range of 600
kilometers. This is the car being entered by the student team in the Cruiser
class of the World Solar Challenge that starts in Australia in October 2013.
A car that produces electricity
The solar cells of ‘Stella’ - Latin for star – generate more
electricity on average than the car uses and that means the surplus electricity
can be returned to the power grid, thereby making the car ‘energy-positive’.