Solar Winged Helios
I know the Helios is just a concept car, but my first overwhelming reaction was frankly, “Oh, hell no.”
Without question the big issue with solar cars is finding a way to get enough cells to collect the needed energy, but people are not going to take something seriously that looks like a big . . . well, I don’t know what it looks like, but certainly not a car.
Engadget was more laudatory, saying, “The sadly-only-on-paper vehicle netted designer Kim Gu-Han the Best Use of Technology award at the 2008 Interior Motives Design Awards for its frill-neck lizard-inspired solar fan, which unfolds when the car is immobile. If the renders are any indication, though, it’s meant only for Martians — please tell Marvin we’re jealous, cause the eco-friendly cars we get now generally look like they were designed by someone with all the exuberance and colorful panache of Al Gore.”
Okay, maybe I have no imagination, but I still say alternative cars are only going to be successful if they look like CARs.