Solar taxi
Solartaxi is the project of the Swiss environmental activist Louis Palmer to circumnavigate the earth for the first time in a solar vehicle. The word solar taxi is both the name of the project and the name of the self-constructed vehicle. Planning and construction began in 2004, the circumnavigation of the world began in 2007 and was successfully completed the following year, after having crossed 38 countries in 18 months after driving 54,000 km.
Palmer developed his first ideas for circumnavigating the world in a solar vehicle when he was a child. After initially working as a teacher, he devoted himself more and more to the energy transition in various projects. In the meantime, he made numerous, sometimes extreme, trips that prepared him for the world tour of the solar taxi.
vehicle
The Solartaxi electric car is a complete in-house design by Louis Palmer's team. It consists of a 500 kg, three-wheel towing vehicle with a top speed of 90 km / h and a consumption of 8 kWh / 100 km, as well as a 250 kg trailer covered with photovoltaic modules. The solar taxi offers two seats arranged next to each other which, thanks to an adjustable steering wheel, can also be used as a driver's seat. The planning and construction of the vehicle began in 2004, when Palmer challenged students at several Swiss universities to design a solar vehicle suitable for global travel. After two years of work with a team of 70 people, the vehicle was driven to Barcelona on its first long test drive.
Circumnavigation
The 18-month journey began on July 4, 2007 in Lucerne and ended on December 18, 2008 in the same place. The route ran east through Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, India, Bali, New Zealand, Australia, several Far Eastern countries, China, South Korea, Canada and the United States. On route sections which made a sea crossing necessary, the vehicle has been partially disassembled transported by sea, on the route between Bali and New Zealand in the cargo space of the Greenpeace -Schiffes RainbowWarrior . Bali was chosen as the waypoint on the route to take part in the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference by solar taxi . On its circumnavigation of the world, the solar taxi covered 54,000 kilometers. An eight-seater Toyota Hiace served as the technical and logistical support vehicle for the entire route.
The solar taxi expedition is considered to be the first circumnavigation of the world in a solar vehicle.
team
Palmer himself was intensively involved in all sub-areas and phases of the project, ranging from the detailed planning of the construction to driving the vehicle to organizing the route and lectures during the circumnavigation of the world. Nevertheless, the success of the project depended on the cooperation of a large team that was formed on a voluntary basis during the project around Palmer and constantly expanded. The most intensive collaboration took place with the renewable energy technician Thomas Gottschalk, who led the construction of the solar taxi and was the only team member to accompany the entire circumnavigation of the world, as well as the filmmaker Erik Schmitt, who took part in the trip from India and documented the project in the form of a television film.
Web links
- Solar taxi. Around the world with the sun - website of the solar taxi
- Description of the project on Louis Palmer's private website
- Solar taxi. Around the world with the sun - Website about the film by Erik Schmitt
Individual evidence
- ↑ SOLARTAXI - louispalmer.ch. Retrieved March 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Solartaxi: Solartaxi - The Idea. Retrieved March 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Solartaxi: Solartaxi - Louis' page. Retrieved March 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Solar taxi: solar taxi technology. Retrieved March 8, 2017 .
- ^ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Adventure around the world: With solar power around the globe - SPIEGEL ONLINE - travel. Retrieved March 8, 2017 .
- ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: 3000 kilometers with an electric car: rocket under power - SPIEGEL ONLINE - car. Retrieved March 8, 2017 .
- ↑ SOLARTAXI - louispalmer.ch. Retrieved March 8, 2017 .
- ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: The final: solar taxi sets world record - SPIEGEL ONLINE - travel. Retrieved March 9, 2017 .
- ↑ Solar taxi: solar taxi. Retrieved March 9, 2017 .
- ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Passengers wanted: Get on the solar taxi! - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Travel. Retrieved March 9, 2017 .
- ^ Solar taxi The Movie. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 21, 2017 ; accessed on March 9, 2017 (German). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
