Stella Vita: A solar powered house on wheels!

Is the use of solar energy for everyday electromobility just a pipe dream or is it reality? For the Solar Team, a student collective from the Eindhoven University of Technology, there is no question about it. The proof is provided by Stella Vita. The highlight of the all-electric experimental vehicle equipped with photovoltaic panels: Stella Vita is a house on wheels. Mobilize, as a brand that is constantly concerned with sustainable mobility, has followed this project with interest. At a joint meeting at the Renault Technocentre, the students not only presented Stella Vita, but also learned how a concept vehicle can be turned into a production model.

solar powered house on wheels

Stella Vita is the work of 22 students from the Technical University of Eindhoven. The futuristic vehicle demonstrated the potential of solar energy to drive electric vehicles with a trip of around 3.000 kilometers from Eindhoven in the Netherlands to Tarifa in Spain. The solar panels from Stella Vita are up to 17,5 square meters when the wings are open.

Thanks to the aerodynamic design and the weight of 1.700 kilograms, speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour are possible on the road. When the lithium-ion battery is fully charged with a capacity of 60 kWh, the vehicle has a range of around 600 kilometers, and up to 730 kilometers in sunshine. However, it takes two to three days to fully charge the batteries using the solar cells when the battery is not running. The vehicle is therefore also equipped with connections for faster charging at conventional charging stations.

"When designing the vehicle, we found that we were getting a lot of excess energy from the large solar panels. We asked ourselves what we could do with it and came up with a car you could live in.“Lowe Blom, Solar Team Aerodynamics Engineer

Renault also has a long history of cars to life, a tradition that continues to inspire the brand today. Stella Vita fits in perfectly with this vision and goes even further as a house on wheels. According to the creators, this prototype embodies the future of sustainable mobility - a mobile home in which users can live and work while they are on the move, powered by the energy of the sun.

The mobile roof can be raised to create more space inside. The wings then extend on the sides, doubling the area of ​​the solar cells. The interior is comparable to a compact motorhome and has a kitchen, a bed, a sofa, a shower and a toilet - all powered by solar energy. An infotainment system enables users to keep an eye on energy consumption at all times.

"Stella Vita is a kind of mobile home that offers the functions of a car - it can do everything. For the students, the project means a change from theory to the concrete application of their ideas.“Patrick Lecharpy, VP Design Mobilize

Laurens Van Den Acker, Head of Design at Renault Group, was very impressed by the interdisciplinary approach of the project. He also studied at the Technical University of Eindhoven and was therefore very interested in getting to know the young designers. During their visit to the Technocentre, they discussed the future of the project and the hurdles that still need to be overcome before the prototype becomes a production model.

The founders of Stella Vita learned that one of the keys to success is to keep the differences between the concept and the real vehicle as small as possible. The Renault 5 Prototype is already very much in line with the future production model, which is to be sold in 2024. The transition to series production can also be illustrated using the Renault MORPHOZ concept vehicle and the Megane eVision show car.

"Concept vehicles like TreZor and MORPHOZ represent a dream for the future, but they are also a way to explore new solutions. We learn a lot from these experiences.“Laurens Van Den Acker, EVP Corporate Design Renault Group

Patrick Lecharpy, VP Design Mobilize, went into the atypical development of the vehicles of the mobility brand Mobilize: In contrast to more traditional brands, the teams here design the models according to the task they are supposed to perform. The designers don't start with a drawing of a vehicle, but rather think about the concept that should help not only the users, but also the operators and the cities as a whole.

"The current vehicles are not suitable for shared mobility. We have to design new, different vehicles that meet the new uses and needs. In the future, vehicles will become more networked and sustainable over time.“Patrick Lecharpy, VP Design Mobilize

Duo and Bento are two concept vehicles from Mobilize that were introduced to the students and represent the brand's ideas to help cities in their transition to sustainable mobility solutions. The students recognized in the small electric duo not only a networked vehicle for shared mobility, but also an energy-efficient way of optimizing vehicle traffic in urban areas.

Of course, that wasn't the end of it!

tuningblog has many more news around the topic Camping and RV at the beginning. Do you want to see them all? Just click HERE and look around. Our focus is especially on converted Campers & mobile homes. This means that you will find fewer reports on classic standard motorhomes here, but much more we try to present specially modified specimens that show that the topic is also Tuning is represented in the camping & RV scene. Following an excerpt of the last campers and campers:

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