Swiss solar taxi starts 'round the world drive Tuesday (video)
There are different ways to travel "green" around the world, for example attempting (but not succeeding) to do it in a biodiesel boat. A teacher in Switzerland, Louis Palmer, has decided the best way to circumnavigate is with a small solar trike he built himself (with lots of support from others).
Palmer will start his journey Tuesday, and plans to drive at least 50,000 km through 50 countries (in five continents) over the next 15 months. If you're intrepid and have some time free, you are more than welcome to contact the Solar Taxi crew to participate in (and help with) the ride for three-week stints. Northeast Asia and most of Africa will be excluded from the journey, but for the rest of us, there's a good chance Palmer and team will be driving at least relatively close by. Palmer took the SolarTaxi on an intra-Europe trip last year, and it sounds like the journey was highly uneventful (which is great for a DIY project like this one), so you don't need to worry about spending 2.5 of your weeks on the trip waiting for repairs to be completed.
The video above is in Swiss German, and there's lots more information (again mostly in German) about the Solar Taxi here. There's a map of Louis Palmer's intended route after the jump.
[Source: YouTube, thanks to Linton]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sanjay Limaye 4:21AM (10/28/2007)
Dear Louis Palmer and all his team members,
Today I read about the solar taxi and its journey through India in the newspaper- Times of India. This is may be a great coincidence that I was looking for the possibility of a vehicle which could be powered by solar energy and could run at a very good speed.
Is it possible for you to take up the development of next generation public transport system in which a longer car with two seats next to one other and having five rows (thus the passenger capacity of 10) could be covered on top with solar panels and will be then put on a rail line (of shorter interspace distance compared to big rail lines of today. This solar rail car could solve many a problems of city traffic all over the world and will be one of the most environment friendly transport solution for public at large within city as well as inter-city.
Please comment your ideas as to how we could develop this.
regards
Sanjay Limaye
Reply