The car on the right is the Honda Dream, built solely for the purpose of competing in a 3,000 kilometre race across the deserts of Australia from Darwin to Adelaide. Like all it's competitors, the Dream is powered entirely by sunlight and, when the sun is shining, is capable of traveling up to 500 miles a day, cruising at 56mph and occasionally hitting speeds of up to 88mph. Such performance is amazing, considering the solar cells only generate the equivalent of about 1.9 kilowatts, or only 2.6 bhp under the best conditions!

Now before we go any further in this latest thought experiment, I'd like to be the first to point out that this vehicle is completely and utterly impractical! It is made from hugely expensive exotic materials such as carbon fibre and magnesium alloy. The 1.1m high roofline means there is only barely enough space for the maximum two occupants, there is virtually no space whatsoever for luggage, and the crash protection afforded by the 170kg vehicle body structure is not likely to win any awards! For all of these reasons and more, I am absolutely not suggesting that we should be driving around in cars built like this!

The Vauxhall Astra Estate

Instead, what I am suggesting is perhaps even more surprising. In the following calculations, I will show that those of us fortunate enough to live in largely sunny climates may be able to drive around in cars NOT just like the Honda Dream, but more like the one pictured on the left, with nothing more than the application of a couple of todays latest emergent technologies. In effect, many people may be able to run practical real-world sized vehicles without ever having to plug-in or fill up with fuel for the life of the car!

Impossible? Once, perhaps, but not any longer. Recent improvements in two key technologies suggest that it should now be possible to modify existing vehicles in a simple way to realise the dream of personal transport from 100% solar power.

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