A team from Switzerland will next month begin a road trip across South Africa in a Tesla Model X 100, which will pull a 3t trailer capable of supplying power to the vehicle as it crisscrosses the country.
The road trip, the brainchild of Swiss former schoolteacher Louis Palmer, will depart from Cape Town on 9 February. It will take in Mossel Bay before turning north through the Free State, into Gauteng (visiting Johannesburg around 25 February) and on to the Kruger National Park before concluding the journey at Durban’s port on the east coast. The idea is to visit as many schools, universities, clean energy sites, and other climate solutions across the country as possible.
Palmer famously built a solar-powered car, the Solartaxi, and spent a year and a half between 2007 and 2008 driving it around the world, earning him a “Champion of the Earth” award from the United Nations for his efforts to spread the word about the urgency of dealing with human-induced climate change.
Previously responsible for organising the world’s largest electric car rally (in Switzerland and Germany), Palmer told TechCentral in an interview this week that during Covid he came up with the idea to build a second solar-powered car, this time using a trailer bedecked with solar panels that can unfurl when stationary for maximum power generation.
Called the SolarButterfly, the trailer won’t always provide enough energy for the Model X’s journey—the plan is to top up the vehicle using South Africa’s fast-expanding electric vehicle (EV) charging network—but it will assist the team to reduce its reliance on grid-supplied power.
The 3t trailer is 3m long and includes living quarters, a small space to sleep, and a small kitchen and bathroom.
90 countries
The SolarButterfly has already traversed several countries and regions, including Central America, Mexico, the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Turkey, and (most recently) India. The trailer is currently on a ship from India to Cape Town for the South African leg of the epic around-the-world journey.
“We want to go across 90 countries in six continents in four or five years,” Palmer told TechCentral. The aim is to reach as many people as possible along the way to talk about sustainability and climate change.
The SolarButterfly has 40 sq m of solar panels on its “wings,” which can generate 7 kW of electricity in ideal conditions. There are additional panels on board that add and produce a further 7kW when laid out on the ground—for a total of 14kW of maximum solar production. This should be enough to give the car up to 220 km of range, or more than the average planned daily travel distance of 150 km. However, the team will lean on EV charging infrastructure, particularly if the sun isn’t shining or if longer distances are being travelled.
Watch the SolarButterfly in action
Key technical specifications of the SolarButterfly:
- It has a kitchen, toilet, shower, running water and up to six beds;
- It uses lightweight but high-yield solar cells. The panels weigh 4.3 kg per square metre, compared to 16 kg for conventional panels made with glass;
- The shower reuses the energy from the used hot water to save 60% of energy compared to a conventional shower.
- It turns into a “butterfly” at the push of a button;
- Its large wingspan helps collect the sun’s energy.
- It produces enough energy to drive up to 220 km/day.
- It was designed and built by Swiss universities and engineers, and
- It was constructed in part from 800 kg of recycled and specially processed plastic bottles found in the ocean and used in the walls, panels, and furniture of the SolarButterfly.
The team expects to conclude the cross-country journey in Durban on 10 March, where the Model X and the SolarButterfly will be loaded onto a boat for the next leg of the global tour.
