Seat Brisa and Duna concepts point the way to solar power
Seat Brisa and Duna concepts - Click above for a high-res image gallery
At this point, vehicles covered in solar panels aren't yet able to offer a viable alternative to the fossil fuel-powered cars and trucks that we currently rely on. There's hope that this fact will someday change, but that date's still a way off in the future. Regardless, we can still have some fun with the idea, and that's exactly what Spanish design student Miguel-Angel Iranzo Sanchez has done.
Sanchez put pen to paper to design two interesting concept vehicles that would be powered solely by the sun's rays. First up is the Seat Brisa, a low-slung three-wheeled sportscar with a floorpan made from laminated plywood. Sanchez also penned a concept called the Seat Duna, which is an electric dune buggy that would be based on the Volkswagen Up! concept. Eco-friendly touches include rocker panels fashioned from laminated cedar wood.
Both concept vehicles would feature body panels made from a translucent elastomer with photovoltaic cells embedded within, which would send power to an electric motor.
Gallery: Seat Brisa and Duna concepts
[Source: Car Body Design]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ian Bruce 4:44PM (5/07/2009)
Kinda cool... but I can faintly hear the Flintstones theme song playing in the background.
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Ted 5:04PM (5/07/2009)
Yabba dabba doo indeed but hopefully improvements in PV efficiency will lead to useful amounts of power from maybe PV windows, paint, ? Leaving aside the obvious roof installation.
I would love to come out of my office at 5pm to find my car has managed to generate a KWhrs worth of juice by 'magic' sitting in the car park since the morning.
I only live 5 miles from work so at an average 40mph cruse thats probably gonna get me home in an EV with an 0.25 or better cd. COOOOL!
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James 7:32PM (5/08/2009)
This design is actually very similar to the solar racing vehicle I worked on in college: three narrow high-efficiency tires and a low-profile design. It's amazing how designs like this consume magnitudes less energy than conventional vehicles.
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