ROME – Stella Vita is a prototype, certainly futuristic but still difficult to consider as a vehicle for common use, yet with great potential towards this “full electric” solution. The Knaus-Tabbert had already tried it in the past, with its E.Power Drive, a totally eco-friendly leisure vehicle.It was, in essence, a semi-integrated motorhome with electric drive, but which also had an engine Wankel rotary heater for recharging the batteries. This prototype, however, had highlighted all the difficulties of transforming a traditional camper and making it totally electric.
Stella Vita, on the other hand, was born from a total redefinition of the concept of eco-friendly electric camper. Made by the Solar Team Eindhoven of the Technical University of Eindhoven (The Netherlands), it tries to combine the solar-powered car with a vehicle with a more recreational footprint. In short, it brings together the idea of a camper with a folding roof and that of a tent trailer, all on a single chassis.
The dimensions of the vehicle are generous, precisely because there is a need for a roof that contains the solar panels. The bellows rises and transforms the car into a camper, with dining room, double bed, bathroom with shower and a small refrigerator. The solar roof then opens like a curtain, also offering two additional photovoltaic panels which at the same time become rigid awnings to shelter from the sun or any rains. In all, the actual photovoltaic area is equivalent to about 17.5 square meters of solar panels.
Precisely these solar panels should allow a vehicle autonomy of about 730 km (on sunny days, because the camper has only a limited availability of batteries for energy storage). The “road test” will take place shortly: a trip from the headquarters of the company that produces it to the southernmost tip of Spain. We will see if the system will hold up to experience, thus opening a new front for the future of eco-sustainable travel.
.