Chinese Company Unveils Solar-Powered Car for $5,560

The Zhejiang 001 Group has produced a tiny car powered entirely by the solar panels on its roof.

The panels can charge the battery enough for a 3-mile trip in just one hour. After a full charge of 30 hours in the sun, the car can travel up to 90 miles.

The vehicle was debuted at the 29th Zhejiang International Bicycles and Electric-powered Cars Exhibition last week. The panels are not integrated into the car’s design, but rather stand above the car much like a typical roof-rack attachment.

According to the company, the panels can absorb up to 95 percent of solar energy, but can only transform 14 to 17 percent to electricity.

Roof panels aside, the car is nearly identical to China’s popular economy vehicle, the Cherry QQ, which is pictured above. Only ten of the solar cars have been manufactured so far, but more production is planned. Unfortunately, you won’t have much luck finding one outside of China.

Photo Credit: Anuradha on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
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