Stella and its successors Stella Lux, Stella Vie and Stella Era are a series of solar racing family cars, built for the World Solar Challenge in Australia, sofar winning its Cruiser Class all four times it was held – in 2013, 2015, 2017 and in 2019. Stella is considered the world’s first solar-powered family car and was given the 'Best Technology Development' Award at the 8th annual Crunchies in San Francisco in 2015. Being the only competing vehicle with a license plate, the road registration of Stella contributed to the winning score in the races. The vehicles are designed and built by "Solar Team Eindhoven" (STE) — some 26 students of different faculties of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands. The group have set up a non-profit foundation to promote their concepts for practical solar vehicles for adoption on a broader scale. Contrary to previous solar vehicle race classes that focus primarily on speed, and are contested by highly impractical single-seat racers, a new competition for more "practical" solar electrical vehicles was added to the 2013 edition of the World Solar Challenge (WSC): the Cruiser Class. Vehicles competing carry two or more occupants, each facing forwards, and are judged not only on the time taken to complete the course, but also on their external energy use, payload carried, and an overall practicality assessment. For this competition a student team from TU Eindhoven created Stella, a solar powered "family car" with four seats and luggage space, which won the WSC's Cruiser Class in 2013. The car is capable of a top speed of 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph) with a full load of four people, using mainstream solar cell technology. In 2015 Solar Team Eindhoven repeated this achievement with an improved version of the car, called Stella Lux. In 2017 they built a five-seat successor called Stella Vie, with which they won the year's edition of the WSC again. In 2017, some of the students responsible for the vehicles have launched their own startup company to make a commercially viable version of the car, called Lightyear One. They are hoping to start with a first small production run of 10 “Signature” cars in 2019 and then produce 100 more in 2020. The car is projected to cost at least €120,000 excluding VAT or sales tax, but will offer four-wheel drive for optimal traction.
Stella
Stella won the inaugural edition of the new for 2013, Michelin-sponsored Cruiser Class of the WSC, completing the 3,022 kilometres (1,878 mi) race distance in 40 hours and 14 minutes, at an average speed of 75 kilometres per hour (47 mph), while typically carrying three occupants, for a total of 9,093 occupant kilometres (5,651 passenger miles). Vehicles in the WSC's Cruiser class are allowed a small battery-pack which can be plugged in to the power mains for additional charging. Although Stella was mostly relying on its 1.5 kilowatt solar array, the team did use their maximum allowance of 64.0 kWh of external charging during the race. For comparison: according to the EPA, one gallon of gasoline is equivalent to 33.7 kWh. So, effectively, each top-up of the 15.0 kWh lithium-ion battery gives the car about 0.44 gallons of gas, and for the entire 3,022 kilometres (1,878 mi) race distance, the total external energy consumption was equal to less than two gallons of gas. On average, the car's solar array is able to generate more energy than would be consumed by normal daily commuting for most people, and if the car were plugged into the electrical grid, or to an owners house, when parked, it could contribute more energy than it would need to take out, making the car energy positive. According to the developers, "in real-world conditions, the Stella's large solar array would be able to charge the car's 15 kWh battery pack in 30 to 45 minutes of being parked, sitting in traffic, or tooling around town at low speed". During highway driving, the battery must augment the solar power, and range ends at 600 to 800 kilometres, but urban driving at up to 70 km/h (43 mph) can be sustained entirely on solar power, running solely off the energy generated by the solar panels. After collecting numbers from the Dutch National Statistics Centre, it was calculated that for 10 months of the year, the car would produce more energy than it uses, allowing for twice the distance Dutch people drive on an average day, and assuming Dutch cloudy light conditions. The Stella is a very boxy, but low-built car. With only 1.15 metres (45 in) height, and its two large doors opening upwards, it is as tricky to get in and out of as a super-sportscar. However, once inside, reviewers found it surprisingly comfortable. The whole of the top of the car is covered in solar panels, and the rear slopes down to create a teardrop shape to reduce air resistance. The car weighs only 388 kilograms (855 lb) thanks to being constructed largely out of carbon-fiber, reinforced by welded aluminium tubing. Stella is not only road-legal in Europe, having been deemed safe and approved for use on public roads by the Netherlands Road Vehicle Service (RDW) — the Eindhoven team were also able to put a California license-plate on the car for a demonstration run from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 2014. Stella's publicly accessible road registration information lists a cost price of €1,272,327. One of Solar Team Eindhoven's sponsors, NXP Semiconductors, contributed to the vehicle's electronics, with a concept to make roads safer and reduce air pollution by means of proactive communication between cars, as well as with traffic signals.
Stella Lux
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