Solar-powered vehicle mistaken for a UFO

Whenever I write about a new solar car, readers get in touch to ask why these vehicles always have to look so freakish. And this doesn't really surprise me: there was the insect-like Cree last month, the stacking shopping trolley car and who could forget the Aptera, which looks like it whizzed straight out of an episode of the Jetsons?

It seems you can have any sort of eco-friendly vehicle you like, as long as it doesn't look like a car. And now, I fear we are finding out why the 'out of this world' designs may not be such a good idea...

The 'craft' pictured above is the pride and joy of a Canadian chap called Marcelo da Luz, who for nearly two years has been happily driving the solar-powered car across North America in an attempt to set a world distance record for a solar vehicle.

His preparations came to an abrupt end earlier this week, however, when he arrived in Alaska, and a concerned citizen saw the car and called the police to report a 'UFO sighting'. Police raced to investigate the extra-terrestrial object, and De Luz was soon idenfitied as human and sent on his way. Just goes to show that eco-friendly design is lightyears ahead from the rest of life on earth at present...

[Via Ecofriend]

Comments