Zoomi Life

Kim Gu-Han of Universitat Dulsburg-Essen, Germany, wants to build a solar-powered car that can not only recharge itself while sitting, but also run your house with its extra juice. The car concept, which he calls the Helios, is a four-wheeled, off-road vehicle that looks basically like a dune buggy. It’s open cockpit design, prominent roll bar, and four large wheels and tires make it look like it has “off road” written all over it.

Then it unfurls. When parked, the four wheels turn counter to one another (which, if spinning, would let the car turn in place) for stability and the wings unfurl up and outward. Creating a half-moon shape, the wings house the massive solar array that the car uses to recharge itself. It has the option of being plugged into your home or RV to power that too.

The idea is a good one except for one glaring problem. One that someone like me, who lives in Wyoming, can appreciate: wind. A good wind would pick this thing up and send it flying across the landscape on its solar wings like a grocery sack.

Otherwise, this is a great concept and I expect that something similar could become the kind of thing you’ll see on the market some day. Sort of a reverse of Honda’s Hydrogen Home concept.