Dutch students to travel 3,000 km to Spain in solar-powered campervan

THE HAGUE, Nether lands: A group of Dutch students have reimagined van life and is heading for Portugal. Please avoid calling their brand-new solar-powered vehicle a campervan. ‘We call it a self-sustaining house on wheels,’ explains Lotte van Dasler, a member of a team from Eindhoven’s Technical University. ‘We are independent in terms of our energy. A camper isn’t, and we are. So I think that we make something new. New concept, new idea and new future — sustainable future’

The sleek, odd-looking mobile home took a test drive outside of Paris last Friday. Several solar panels on the vehicle, called Stella Vita, allow it to live off the grid and drive. Using the system’s onboard information system, one can see exactly how much energy is used when cooking, taking a shower, and watching television. ‘I think that is really cool because if you are aware of your energy consumption, you can make better choices to use less energy,’ said team member Tijn ter Horst.

Student team says they can travel 730 kilometers (454 miles) on a sunny day at speeds up to 120 kilometers per hour (75 mph). In addition, thanks to its 60 kilowatt-hour battery, it can drive for up to 600 kilometers (373 miles) at night. With its roof unfolded, it has 17.5 square meters (188 square feet) of solar panels – about as much as an average house can hold. Taking advantage of it, they’re driving 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) to Tarifa, Spain’s most southerly city.

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The experimental road trip got off to an unsatisfactory start with drive train problems, which meant that Stella Vita was transported on a trailer between Eindhoven and Brussels and between the Belgian capital and Paris. During the test drive near Paris, project manager Laura Van Houtum said, ‘We just want to make kilometers to make sure that these small troubles are not going to come up again.’

Nevertheless, its makers believe that their mobile home can play a crucial role in tackling climate change through the use of renewable energy sources. ‘We want to show that the future that we think is … 10 years ahead of us is already here,’ said Van Dasler.