Tour de Sol

The Tour de Sol was the first race for vehicles that lead with a solar drive instead of an internal combustion engine. Originally, the event was designed as a promotion for the company of the Swiss entrepreneur and solar pioneer Josef Jenni. With this action, Jenni wanted to show that solar energy works not only in hot areas, but also in Central Europe. As an organizer Jenni won the entrepreneur Urs Muntwyler who performed almost all of the annual Sweeps 1985-1993. The legal form was a foundation that existed until 2002.

The first Tour de Sol was conducted in Switzerland in 1985. It led into 5 stages of Roman horn about Winterthur to Geneva. At the start, 73 solar cars and about 50 of them managed the route, which was unlocked on roads; the participants had to adhere to all traffic rules. The winner was the solar car from real alpha automaker Mercedes -Benz. The cars had solar cells and batteries with a defined maximum power or capacity.

First, two categories of vehicles were approved:

Later, additional categories to example came:

  • " Series Solar Mobile " production-ready prototypes or actual electric cars with a regular traffic license. Since the available solar surface for such vehicles was too small, stationary solar charging stations were first admitted with low battery and later the grid-connected system: the vehicles were allowed to load from the mains, when mathematically sufficient current was fed elsewhere. This soon led to the presently known solar feed-in systems.

The second Tour de Sol led by Freiburg im Breisgau (Baden- Württemberg) to Suhr ( Aargau ). It has a top speed of 120 km / h, the fastest solar vehicles have achieved without additional drive. The average speed was 49 km / h

More sweeps of the Tour de Sol were:

Had the vehicles at the first race still mostly three wheels, four -wheel more and more cars and two-wheelers came later. From the latter, the first commercially available series of electric motorcycles and electric bicycles originated in Switzerland.

Also, a solar car race was conducted under the name of American Tour de Sol by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association ( NESEA ) in the USA.

Swell

  • Solar Mobile World Cup Tour de Sol - SRF KNOW on August 12, 1991
  • Interview with Josef Jenni in 2008
  • Photovoltaic
  • Motorsport race
  • Sporting event in Switzerland
Romanshorn Suhr, Aargau Biel/Bienne Contone Beatenberg Laax Saas-Fee Lucerne Adelboden
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