Solar-Powered & 80 MPH: Phylla Electric Concept Car Driven
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 12. 8.08
image: Fiat
OK, so it won’t be winning any speed records, and frankly I think aesthetically design is a bit wonky (I know, I know, it’ll probably change in production, but it still looks far too Hello Kitty happy bubbly computer icon for me) but the solar powered Phylla electric car was recently unveiled and test driven by some Italian VIP guests at the Turin Environment Park.
Here are the relevant tech stats:
Two Adults Plus Kids For 90 Miles
The Phylla prototype is a 2+2 seat sub-A-segment urban car that captures solar energy in order to power electric motors that drive all four of its wheels. The car is 1980 mm high, 2995 mm long and 1618 mm high, with a luggage capacity of 142 litres (2+2 seats) 584 litres (2 seats).Riding on a lightweight split-frame aluminium chassis, the Phylla weighs just 750 kg (of which 150 kg is the battery weight) and it boast a 145 km range when using lithium ion batteries, or 220 km with lithium polymer ones in situ. The 0 to 50 km/h dash is achieved in six seconds, while top speed is 130 km/h.
Say what you like about the Phylla's maximum speed, but solar powered and 80 mph is pretty great... The range however probably has to be improved, at least a bit. Even running around a city and the the surrounding suburbs all day--this sort of vehicle isn't designed for long range travel--you could easily run down a battery.
via: AutoBlogGreen (which has the full press release)
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What is wrong with 80mph? Man are we brainwashed these days if we think going over the speed limit on all North American highways and interstates is a needed feature of a car.
"1980 mm high, 2995 mm long and 1618 mm high"
One of those should be width, no?
Maybe they were high when doing the design and got the measurements... off?
Anyways, I love the aesthetics of this car. I'm sick of the common look of old gas guzzlers. Our cars will have to look like this if we want to see true achievements in range and power consumption. You can't have a car of the future not look like something from the future. Drag aerodynamics are what will help range the most with these things. Hopefully the economic downturn hasn't killed the future of Aptera. They'll be the real first test at a low drag long range car and it looks so futuristic they're using it in the new Star Trek movie.
Once we get the design of small cars down and people start getting used to it, bigger cars can be made that make up for their size with increased aero.
top speed only matters on the track and with vehicles using internal combustion engines (ICE's). with vehicles using ICE's they have to have an extremely excessive and wasteful max horsepower (top speed) for acceleration. electric motors have all their power in the lower rpm's and are more efficient than ICE's. Although the top speed is 80mph the acceleration is much better than if it were a vehicle with the same top speed using an ICE. Besides, going 10mph over the speed limit will only get you to starbucks a few moments quicker and if you hit a single red light you've just lost all that extra time. The people of the U.S. are disgustingly ignorant of this fact and feel they need to do 75+mph on the express-way like a 16 year old. Grow up people! Traffic light timing more times than not thwarts your attempts of getting there quicker so slow down and enjoy the ride before you kill someone.
Stop it with the prototypes, lets just get them on the road! And as for the 90mile range (perfect for 90% of people) and 80mpg (only Germany has higher legal speeds), if we waited for perfection we'd still be riding horses!
I drive a ford festiva, to do new home inspections, on average I do 60miles a day, and have no problems in the fact that the old car can only scrape 70mph with a chasing wind.
so how long does it have to be in the sun for to travel 1km?
Photovoltaic range is 12-18km per day
I live in Germany and drive on the Autobahn whenever I have to. I like driving 100mph. It does get me there faster, believe me. Of course, I am interested in this car anyway, since most of our driving is in the city and this would be perfect. I'll keep my Toyota until electric cars are equipped with silicon ion batteries and can manage 100mph over 400 or 500km, thanks. But since this is 5% of my driving I don't see much of a problem here. I'm very hopeful that Fiat will release this car. The wife and I are already planning on buying it asap.