Saturday, Jul. 19, 2008
Swiss man, moved by the sun, produces solar-powered car
Swiss world traveler Louis Palmer of Lucerne, Italy, left, is driving a zero-emission, solar-powered car called the Solar-Taxi around the world. He stopped at UC on Friday,. He has already traveled more than 20,000 miles in the car, and the United States is the 28th country he's visited in the car since last July.
A car with Swiss license plates cruising along roads on the sunburned hills of Merced County isn't exactly common sight. An even less common sight is a solar-powered car that produces zero carbon emissions.
That's exactly what a small group of residents saw Friday, as Swiss schoolteacher and world traveler Louis Palmer rolled into UC Merced with his Solar Taxi.
The 36-year-old Palmer is five months away from circling the globe in his solar powered car -- a trip that will take him across 40 countries and 36,000 miles. The United States is the 28th country he's visited in the Solar Taxi -- and he's driven more than 23,000 miles.
And while Palmer's trip will probably make him the first person to travel around the world in a solar powered car, his true mission is to show people that automobile travel is possible without spending a single cent at the gas pump -- or negatively impacting the environment.
In the age of global warming and sky-rocketing gas prices, Palmer said his unique mode of transportation only makes sense.
"I had a dream that I would go around the world without it being a problem," Palmer said.
The Solar Taxi, which is about eight feet long and has three wheels and two seats, is powered by a bed of more than 250 small solar panels on a trailer pulled by the car. Light from the sun then converted into energy, which is fed by cables into the car's batteries.
What energy Palmer doesn't get from the sun, he obtains from plugging into local grids (the car's energy consumption is offset by energy fed back into the Swiss utility grid). On solar power alone, his car can travel about 200 miles. It would take about six hours for the sun to recharge the battery, although Palmer said he never lets his car run out of power.
Palmer said he first envisioned creating the car in 1986 at age 14.
His ideas eventually gained traction with help of four Swiss technical universities and sponsors like Q-Cells, the world's largest independent solar cell producer. The taxi is also sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme.
The taxi, which has a fiberglass body and an aluminum chassis, took three years to build and required the efforts of about 200 people. It has a maximum speed of about 60 mph.
It does have a few drawbacks -- there's no air conditioning or doors.
During Palmer's trip, he said more than 1,000 people have ridden with him as passengers, including celebrity Bianca Jagger and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He's driven across Eastern Europe and Australia and expects to arrive back in Lucerne in December.
He's only had to stop to make repairs a few times, including a cracked chassis that delayed him by about two days.
Palmer also has no problem communicating his message about the importance of enviro-friendly technology to people around the world.
He speaks English, Hungarian, French, Portuguese, Spanish and German.
"I can call a press conference in any language," he laughed.
He also has an international team of volunteers to help him travel the world, including some from the Central Valley.
Former Porterville Mayor Richard Stadtherr, who serves as Palmer's North American coordinator and now lives in Switzerland, said he decided to help Palmer after reading about him in a Swiss newspaper.
With the release of former Vice President Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" and rising gas prices, Stadtherr said more people are starting to pay attention to Palmer and his car.
"I think getting past fossil fuel transportation is important," Stadtherr said. "If you can actually show people a real example, it's better than words."
Ceres resident Bill Warner, 54, who has been following Palmer's journey on the Internet, drove to UC Merced to meet him firsthand.
"Electric cars are possible," said Warner, who own a 1956 Volkswagen that runs on electric power.
Jay Dubin, 50, of Santa Monica, who was visiting the campus, said he was also impressed by Palmer's car.
"The most impressive feature is that it's gone so far," Dubin said.
Palmer said he isn't sure about much his taxi, which is the prototype, is worth.
"If I had to pay everyone it would be much more like (the cost of) two Ferraris," Palmer said.
Still, Palmer said a similar version of his car could probably be built for about $10,000.
And while Palmer's car may not be for everybody, he is hopeful that more people will realize the myriad benefits of driving a zero-emission, solar-powered vehicle.
"Everything is possible with a solar-powered car," he smiled.
