Inside The Plan To Drive A Solar-powered Tesla Model X Across South Africa

The road trip, the brainchild of former Swiss schoolteacher Louis Palmer , will depart from Cape Town on 9 February. It will take in Mossel Bay before turning north through the Free State, into Gauteng visiting Johannesburg around 25 February and on to the Kruger National Park before concluding the journey at Durban's port on the east coast. The idea is to visit as many schools, universities, clean energy sites and other climate solutions across the country as possible.

Palmer famously built a solar-powered car, the Solartaxi , and spent a year-and-a-half between 2007 and 2008 driving it around the world, earning him a "Champion of the Earth" award from the United Nations for his efforts to spread the word about the urgency of dealing with human-induced climate change.

Previously responsible for organising the world's largest electric car rally in Switzerland and Germany, Palmer told TechCentral in an interview this week that during Covid he came up with the idea to build a second solar-powered car, this time using a trailer bedecked with solar panels that can unfurl when stationary for maximum power generation.

Called the SolarButterfly , the trailer won't always provide enough energy for the Model X's journey - the plan is to top up the vehicle using South Africa's fast-expanding electric vehicle EV charging network - but it will assist the team to reduce its reliance on grid-supplied power.

Key technical specifications of the SolarButterfly: