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Solar-Powered Car Completes First Trip Around the World

solar-powered car picture

Are solar cars a viable option for future vehicles? A Swiss school teacher seems to think so.

Louis Palmer, a 36-year-old teacher in Switzerland, just completed the first solar-powered car trip around the world. The solar-powered car traveled a 32,000-mile (52,000-kilometer) journey that began 17 months ago in Lucerne, Switzerland and traveled through 38 countries, ending at the U.N. climate talks Thursday, the AP reports.
"This is the first time in history that a solar-powered car has traveled all the way around the world without using a single drop of petrol," said Palmer. "These new technologies are ready. It’s ecological, it’s economical, it is absolutely reliable. We can stop global warning."
The noiseless, small, two-seater solar car (pictured above) can travel up to 55 mph and go 185 miles on a fully-charged battery. During the journey, the car hauled a trailer of solar cells to keep it running.
"Here at the conference, we are talking about reducing emissions by 10 or 20 percent," Palmer said. "I want to show that we can reduce emissions by 100 percent – and that’s what we need for the future."
 
Photo via the Associated Press.