From the idea to the vehicle – how the idea of Solarmobil developed
Short overview in a time-lapse mode
1960
Solar mobility becomes a new research field.
1968
Construction of a solar cell car in California.
1970
Several institutions and industrial companies begin researching solar mobiles.
1980
European interest in the further development of solar vehicles.
Increasing environmental awareness leads to further research being done on this environmentally friendly technology.
In 1990
more than 500 solar cars were being used on public roads in Switzerland.
The efficiency of solar cells has now increased many times over.
The batteries are still problematic, since they are often not only costly, but also lose power quickly when temperatures drop sharply below zero.
Solar mobile in space
Solar mobiles are also used in space:
In the early seventies, the solar vehicle Lunochod 1 was already on its way to the moon.
However, there were problems with the Lunochod 2: After the solar cells were covered with dust, of course, the sophisticated system stopped working. The Sojourner and Opportunity as well as the Spirit explored Mars.
Unmanned space flight is an important area of application for solar-powered vehicles.