Mastodawn

Kraig Mar 22, 2025

Need a hopeful story? 22 students at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, 4 years ago, set out to "really inspire people and the market and society to accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable future. What we’re trying to do is to show people and show companies what’s already possible.”

So they made a #solarpunk campervan fully equipped with living essentials including a double bed, sofa, kitchen area and a bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet. It can fit two people, who can drive, cook breakfast and watch television using just the vehicle’s solar-charged battery.

Then they took it on a tour of Europe driving 1,200 miles without stopping for fuel or plugging in to charge. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/stella-vita-solar-campervan-netherlands-spc-intl/index.html

A fully solar-powered campervan has just driven through Europe

Solar Team Eindhoven 2021, a group of students from the Netherlands, have designed and driven a two-person camper powered solely by sunlight.

CNN

Hippy Steve Mar 22, 2025

Read most of the comments. somewhat disappointed.

a. It's a student project. to demonstrate that this technology already exists, yet EV makers are stuck in the charge from the grid SUV & truck model of the past. prototype cost is irrelevant. It's about imagining and striving for a better future.

b. There sure seems to be a lot of 'solarpunk' gatekeeping. Who wants to bike 1200 miles camping with what little you can carry when you get tired? and what about disabled people? do they have no place in a solarpunk future? And the suggestion to just take trains & stay in inns is wholly reliant on civilization as it currently exists.

c. It's a friggin' tiny home on wheels. self contained. move around without need for gas, or electricity, or anything really provided you can find food and water. How heavenly to be able to live wherever you like and move on whenever you wanted to.

Yes, it could do with more clearance. It's a bloody prototype. Go out and build one to your liking. a better world is possible.

HollieK Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 In my opinion, it also looks really cool, and it's astounding that the students have designed and built it.

fear is not a Weltanschauung Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 never understood that mentality, those who work against others' attempts to make any betterment to the world, while loudly lamenting that no-one has built their perfect one for them.

@exador23 I was unimpressed when I saw stories after they'd built it-anyone* can build a prototype. But the fact that they've run it for 2 years, that's kick-ass!
I agree about your summary of the comments. With that attitude we'd still be burning whale oil.

*with enough time or money

MsMerope Mar 21, 2025

@exador23 and it only costs eleventy billion dollars!🤪

@stevewfolds Mar 21, 2025

@MsMerope @exador23 Had VW Buses that cost $2k each and loved them. Saw a new VW ID.Buzz the other day and checked price, $60k.

John Burns Mar 21, 2025

@stevewfolds @MsMerope @exador23

And the worth of those early $20xx prices don't scale up to that $60k prices.

So: added profit, regulatory costs, etc...

With the true value not there.

*drive a to b. The true value.

@stevewfolds Mar 21, 2025

@JohnJBurnsIII @MsMerope @exador23
The CPI calculator showed $2k in ‘69 to be ~$17.5 now, 3.5x.

John Burns Mar 21, 2025

@stevewfolds @MsMerope @exador23

So giving $10k or so for regulatory requirements... the other $30k or so is profit.

I'll keep buying old cars. They have all I need.

Ellen L. Simms Mar 21, 2025

@exador23 This is great!
Something for my friend, Brian Alger, to copy.

jjrrffkk2023 Mar 21, 2025

@exador23 If they actually build this car in numbers and sell it in quantity, I would like to buy one. I like the idea you don't have to use a Tesla charging station...

inamruzui Mar 21, 2025

@exador23 we are working on something similar and we plan on doing a overhaul once we are financially stable and we are slowly getting more batteries for it and it's a work in progress (1/2)

inamruzui Mar 21, 2025

@exador23 (2/2)

Ericka Simone Mar 21, 2025

@exador23 @dilmandila I want 7 immediately

Dilman Dila Mar 22, 2025

@ErickaSimone @exador23 I want too! I have actually been researching microcars, I want it to be the first vehicle I buy, but I'm afraid they will suffer on Ugandan roads which are so full of potholes

Ari "Two Sheds" Jackson Mar 21, 2025

My immediate reaction:

hex Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 I don't think any kind of car could ever be considered solar punk, even this. Maybe the 123homefree.org guy, but definitely not a car... Especially since you can travel and camp around without using any gas with a bike.

Dmitry Tantsur Mar 23, 2025

@Hex @exador23 camping with a bike is cool (done it a few times) but somewhat limiting even if you can afford an electric cargo bike (and severely limiting if you cannot)

hex Mar 23, 2025

@creepy_owlet @exador23 I mean, if you can't afford a cargo bike you definitely can't afford a custom camper like this.

It's simply a resource thing. For any car you could build, you could build a smaller and more efficient solution that would also be cheaper, like an electric assisted velomobile. Any consideration that a car can address can also be addressed without a car (at least not a full sized one like this).

Microcars are common in the Netherlands for people with limited mobility. Custom solutions based on that type of vehicle would totally make sense, and should only be accessible to people with mobility issues so that everyone else isn't using all those resources.

And again, there are lots of disabilities that make driving impossible or extremely dangerous, but no one ever points them out when talking about cars. A friend of mine couldn't drive because of a traumatic brain injury. Car culture made it extremely dangerous for her to move around because cycling is deadly in the US. (You know why she had TBI? Yeah, a car.)

About 10% of people have ADHD. Driving is boring and requires high focus. Even neurotypicals have trouble with that, but it can be especially hard and dangerous for folks like me with ADHD. What about parents with sleep deprivation who are regularly operating like someone with a .08 blood alcohol content because of that sleep dep? Cars make life extremely dangerous for a lot of people, and omit others... But disability justice only ever comes up in relation to cars when it's in defense of them. Why is that?

Dmitry Tantsur Mar 23, 2025

@Hex @exador23 wait, you say cars can be avoided by... using microcars? Then you mix in issues that are common for any personal transport (like driving fatigue).

Problems with bikes and camping from a person who actually does camping:
1) Small battery / physical power
2) Small cargo space even on cargo bikes
3) No protection from elements
4) Knee load even on electric variants
And if we're talking about the present but the future, shitty infrastructure, of course.

hex Mar 23, 2025

@creepy_owlet @exador23 if you make a mistake on a bike because of fatigue, you may get hurt. If you make a mistake in a car, you're pretty likely to kill someone.

As someone who used to backpack before I got shot, I can't really take most of those other concerns seriously. If you're camping, don't you prepare for the elements? If you're glamping then stay in a cabin.

hex Mar 23, 2025

@creepy_owlet @exador23 I'm not saying these aren't problems worth solving (or solving in better ways than they're solved now), just that solving them with tons of steel and conflict minerals with a massive embodied carbon footprint isn't really "sustainable" or "solar punk."

There is a term for this type of technology: "greenwashing."

Hippy Steve Mar 23, 2025

@Hex @creepy_owlet

Thank you oh great gatekeeper of all things solar punk. Guess your bike camping doesn’t fit either unless you’ve hand carved that bike out of wood and replaced the chain with sinew from an animal you’ve killed, skinned, and tanned yourself. Not sure how you’re going to replace the conflict rubber for tires, or make bearings sufficient enough that your solar punk - nay paleo punk bike will be able to get you very far.

hex Mar 23, 2025

@exador23 @creepy_owlet you can fit (at least) 6 bikes in one car parking place. How many bikes can you build with the steel from one car? How many ebikes can you power with the lithium from one electric car? Have you ever thought about the concept of embodied carbon?

The simple fact is that we will have to make massive sacrifices to survive. Solar punk isn't just putting a bunch of solar panels on things and pretending things can stay the same. It's facing those challenges while still maintaining hope.

There's a huge gap between "let's pretend it's fine for everything to carry a few tons of steel and conflict minerals everywhere they go" and "you have to do literally everything yourself." You know this, but if that's the straw man you need to prop up in order to protect your fragile car brain then go do what you need to do. The fact is that if we don't honestly face things now then "make everything yourself" will be the only option because we will all be scraping by to survive and there won't be any industrial society left.

Karin Dalziel Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 this would be so much fun to rent for a couple of months

J_Peregrine Mar 22, 2025

@exador23
Oh what fun. That looks awesome !
In college many years ago someone opened up the top of their van and somehow blowtorched an upside-down metal boat to it....

the buff who fell to earth Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 that's the coolest thing ever 🤯

Oskar im Keller Mar 22, 2025

👀 @breadandcircuses maybe this will cheer you up a bit...

thefathippy Mar 22, 2025

That's a very cool #EV!

Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 Here's a funny question: considering how much it cost to build that contraption, what kind of holiday could they have enjoyed, had they simply spent the money on train tickets and hotels?

Northern Europe is of course known for its famously sunny weather that makes solar panels parallel to the ground extra efficient.

Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 The thing that slays me about this is that people who you would think have every opportunity to be wiser and more intelligent choose "technological innovation" over non-technological solutions that already exist.

The most efficient technology, by definition, is the one you don't build and don't use. It's called "Forbearance". #PowerDown #LeaveItInTheGround

mike805 Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 Looks like something Buckminster Fuller would have come up with. Dymaxion Camper.

Sietske Boer-van Vugt Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 wow, very cool! Of those would ever make it to production I might want to switch to holidaying in a campervan 😁

DarkCyberman Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 They seem to have multiple concept cars that are solar based. An off-road car for instance:
https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/14-09-2023-tue-students-present-the-worlds-first-off-road-solar-car-stella-terra

TU/e students present the world's first off-road solar car: Stella Terra

Stella Terra will cover a thousand kilometers in various landscapes in Morocco.

Melroy van den Berg Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 article is from 2021. And it still not on the market.

Mathijs Booden Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 It's cool but the one thing I despise on campsites is people watching TV in (or worse, in front of) a campervan...

aproitz Mar 22, 2025

That's #cool !

danimrich Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 Fun project! I'd love to see the performance data of this campervan. I bet it's really, really efficient with very low air resistance.

Aleksandr Yakunichev Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 Imagining the future living in a freaking car. Well, that sucks.

Kirsten Millar Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 love this. I want one.

Cairo Braga Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 I'm sorry, but the solar-powered family cars are a more important and hopeful story than this one. hope it can lead to a future where public transport is also solar-powered.

Oli Mar 22, 2025

@exador23
I know, dumping on good news is sad and weak, but this is from 3.5 years ago. Reality ate this camper for breakfast.

Andrew Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 I wish society would normalise this kind of stuff. Give me a tiny house in a nice park with other tiny houses, security and strict noise rules ftw. I’d rather have that than a mortgage and stress.

Squiggle Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 would be nice to know what the ratio is of minutes charging per km.

Steve Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 I think it look cool, but there may be some practicality issues, as there are with a lot of the prototypes the big companies show off. At least they were able to take a trip in it.

quixote Mar 22, 2025

@exador23 GREEN with envy! I want one!

Seriously, why isn't anyone selling this kind of thing? This is _perfect_.

(Also, hooray for Eindhoven! They do some of the best cutting edge solar applications anywhere.)

Asbestos Mar 22, 2025

@exador23
That's a real accomplishment. heating water takes a lot of energy. I've seen people who have done 100% solar for the "house part of an RV. but to include moving the thing is impressive

Juergen M. Bruckner Mar 23, 2025

@dasgrueneblatt
@jakob

Ich denke das ist mal ein Lösungsansatz den man weiterverfolgen sollte.

Was meint Ihr?

KChernecky For Democracy Mar 23, 2025

@exador23 This is incredible! Thanks for sharing! These kids figured out what the car companies haven't been able (or willing) to do! #solarenergy

Dark Phoenix 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱🇵🇦🇵🇸🏳️‍🌈Mar 23, 2025

@exador23
I love it, but the road clearance wouldn't work where I live. It looks like it would scrape on speed bumps.

Ulrike Hahn Mar 31, 2025

@exador23 I want one…