Solar Car Powers Your House When It's Parked A team of twenty students at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands entered the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2013 a six-day solar race across Australia's Outback in the new Michelin Cruiser Class. Practicality was paramount for these entries though energy use payload capacity and speed counted as well. The question to answer according to Jordy de Renet one of Stella s drivers was  Do you want it in your daily life? Would you want to take it to get groceries? Well would you? De Renet grinned and opened the sloping rear compartment where the car's guts -- motors controller etc. -- were housed in little more than a couple of glorified wooden cigar boxes leaving vast amounts of empty space between the rear wheels. Plenty of room for groceries and no need to sneak around in the dark of night to go shopping though the car does have headlights and strips of red LED taillights.There are a few bugs to work out before Stella is ready to take the kids to school. The gullwing doors only open about chest-high for an adult so getting in and out requires an ability to fold oneself into the low seats. It s a maneuver reminiscent of climbing in and out of Nascar stock cars through the window: butt first and watch your head.Stella is made from mostly aluminum and carbon fiber and she doesn't have any insulation so when the motors first crank up it s a noisy ride. At about 14 km/h the system settles into cruise mode which is as quiet as the whir of any electric vehicle. Slowing down engages a regenerative braking system which is also quiet but coming to a full stop unleashes the grinding symphony of traditional disc brakes.The unusual shape was a compromise between aerodynamics and comfort for at least two people as required by the cruiser class specifications. It also allowed for more surface area for solar cells which cover 6 square meters. The 60-kw battery sheathed in a bright yellow casing runs down the center of the vehicle and provides up to about 400 km of range or 800 km when the solar panel is providing maximum juice. On Stella s best day during the competition Solar Team Eindhoven was able to drive 500 km at an average of 100 km/hr.Stella is CO2-neutral and the first energy-positive car in the world. The solar array charges while the car is in motion as well as when it is parked.  We get more energy out of the car than is needed to drive it said de Renet. That power as much as twice what the car uses can be returned to the grid.The system uses a Wi-Fi protocol for vehicles 802.11p to see where the driver cannot. While some of the newest cars available at dealerships today use radar and cameras to detect other cars and objects they can't transmit around corners. Wi-Fi as you probably know from using it in your house for phones laptops and gaming systems in different rooms can.Stella s sensors picked up on the signal being transmitted by a nearby speed sign and alerted the driver on a screen fixed to the clean knob-less dashboard that the limit was 25 mph. A tall van blocked the view of a traffic light but the V2I system onboard Stella alerted the driver to the red light before anyone in the car could see it.As of July Stella has a permanent license plate and permission to drive on public roads.