No Gas, No Problem

[Little Star]

People stare at Daniel Theobald when he drives his kids to school. They look at him when he cruises through the streets of Somerville and Cambridge. And they seem perplexed when they watch him park his van.

But Theobald doesn’t mind the attention. In fact, he welcomes the glares, the finger-pointing, and the constant queries about his preferred mode of transit—it helps him spread the word about how he’s reducing his carbon footprint.

Theobald, the CTO at Vecna Technologies, a healthcare IT company based in Cambridge, is the proud owner of a completely solar-powered, classically-adored 1966 VW Bus, which siphons energy from the sun’s rays rather than gas from the pump, and stores that energy to help power the vehicle’s electric engine.

“The reactions are two sided,” said Theobald, adding that people often approach him or leave notes on his windshield. “They’re all positive, but on one side people are thrilled by the VW itself…and the other people want to know about the solar panel.”
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2014/11/14/vecna-cto-solar-powered-vw-bus/

[Jackpine Radical]

1. OMG, the perfect Hippiemobile--

even without a psychedelic paint job.

[yeoman6987]

2. Kinda neat

I wonder if he could make the panel smaller and still have success. I also wonder how far he can drive it at night. This could at least help on modern cars if mileage can be reasonable.

[JDDavis]

3. Great article, great idea! Maybe cross post this in Gen. Discussion? n/t

[progressoid]

4. I guess you need to get a step ladder to get the snow off?

[Demeter]

5. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

Rick Moranis had it first.

[packman]

6. Like to look at the battery set-up he has

bet it cover at least 1/2 of the seating in the back of the van. I like it, always thought cars should have solar chargers on their roofs.

[merrily]

7. ....

Let the sunshine
Let the sun shine baby
Let it all go
Let it all go baby
Let the sun shine
Let the sun shine baby
Let it all go
Let it all go baby

I know that the world is gonna smile again
When we go from the darkness into the light
Ohhh

Let the sun shine...

Let the sun shine...

Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine baby
Let it all go
Let it all go baby
Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine baby
Let it all go
Let it all go baby
Yeah eh eyy yeah

(Excerpt from a song from the musical, Hair.