Technology is going so fast that you can’t imagine even in dreams. Due to energy crisis the scientists making efforts to discover new and less expensive ways for running the vehicles. At the end they discover a wonderful concept to use the energy of Sun light. This concept is called Solar Energy.

Scientists are making new cars which will be called Solar Powered Cars, which are designed totally on solar concept. These will be best performance and used the sun light as fuel.

This is neither confirmed news nor is it something that the organizers of the grueling race are planning for come the year 2015. But this very well could be the way Dakar Rally goes considering the shape which auto industry is taking and with growing prices and demand for fossil fuel. The concept is based on a hybrid drive train, combining fuel cell, solar energy to support the diesel aggregate, all together delivering electricity to the hub motors in each of the wheels. The shape is meant to challenge the conventional truck format, and explore aerodynamic improvements within a Volvo identity. The Dakar Rally is the showcase for the new vehicle, and the vehicle is commercially targeted towards emergency situations, as a rescue vehicle or mobile hospital.

The “Quaranta” project is a concept car designed to celebrate Italdesign Giugiaro’s forty years of business in styling and technological research at the service of the automotive sector.

The Italdesign Giugiaro Quaranta, world-premiered at the 2008 Geneva International Motor Show, is a synthesis of Italdesign Giugiaro’s unmatched experience of automotive design: from city cars to super sports-cars, from MPVs to medium-engined saloons up to and including luxury flagships and environment-friendly SUV, not to mention light/heavy duty commercial vehicles, in complete cooperation with leading manufacturers all over the world.

The Italdesign Giugiaro Quaranta is an “extreme” product, an environment-friendly, 4WD super sports-car which incorporates a series of innovative aspects: its styling, but also its drive technology, which combines a hybrid engine with solar energy, and its internal layout which, despite its mid-mounted rear engine, can accommodate three adults and a child, also providing a generous luggage compartment.

The Antro Solo is a solar, human and gas-electric hybrid vehicle. It looks like nothing else out there, and has a fuel efficiency of more than 150 miles per gallon! The Antro Solo is a three seat gas-electric hybrid prototype made entirely out of carbon fiber. This material choice allowed the graphic designers to lower the weight of the vehicle to a measly 270kg. This also allowed them to achieve phenomenal fuel efficiency and a pretty decent top speed of 87mph.

All of this is impressive enough, but the Solo’s designers were not content to stop there.  In order to maximize the efficiency of the vehicle, the designers installed solar panels on the roof. These solar panels store energy in the car’s batteries which can be used for short 15-25km trips. If there hasn’t been enough sun to power the batteries, each passenger’s seat comes equipped with pedals that can power the vehicles generator.

If you are by yourself, or everyone gets tired, the car can switch to its small combustion engine that is capable of running on petrol or ethanol.  The prototype was shown at the Budapest Museum of Transport.

It is set to go into production in 2012, and expected to cost around $20,000 dollars.

The futuristic Enigma car project is intended to represent the height of automotive exclusivity. You could argue that the only thing that separates one Veyron or Phantom from the other is the color and trim that the first owner specifies from new, whereas with Enigma, the patination of the bronze on the roof of the car would develop with the owner over time. When the car is sold to its next owner, it would be taken back to the factory, the body panels removed and would be retained as a piece of automotive sculpture for their beautiful landscaped gardens.

The next owner would get a new piece of bronze to start their own story. Paul Howse, the designer, really wanted it to be like a sculpture on wheels, a work of art.

The Lotus Eco Elise project promotes a different perspective on “green”, one which does not revolve solely around tailpipe CO2. This holistic approach is in keeping with the progressive Lotus culture, driving Lotus to become the world’s green automotive consultancy.  Sustainable materials, hemp, eco wool and sisal have been developed for body panels and trim and, combined with hi-tech water based paint solutions, showcase new affordable green technologies.

The green credentials of the technology on show in the Lotus Eco Elise have been analysed throughout the lifecycle of the car.  A green gear change display has been integrated into the dashboard to promote greener driving as well as a weight reduction programme, illustrating the holistic approach taken. The energy expended to manufacture the car has been evaluated, working to the 3R’s – Reduce, Re-use and Recycle.

Mike Kimberley, CEO of Group Lotus plc commented “This Eco Elise is a great example of the advanced and affordable green technologies Lotus is developing. We are at the cutting edge of environmental technology and are determined to push forward with our green agenda. The Lotus brand values of lightweight, fuel efficient, and high performance are more relevant today than they ever have been.

We are keen to ensure that Lotus as a company and its products offer an ethical, green option that appeals to our customers”.

In keeping with the “performance through light weight” philosophy, the Lotus Eco Elise weighs 32 kg (70.5 lbs) less than the standard Lotus Elise S, which means that the efficient Elise S engine in the Lotus Eco Elise will give higher fuel economy figures and even better performance.

‘Peugeot Shoo’ is something that is all about solar glow. The car is designed in a stable triangle shape to give it plenty of design and a lot of space as well. It has a solar roof enabling energy of the sun to be capture and transformed to run its electrical engine. The car is not only a zero-emission vehicle but even the power for its electric engine is from alternate sources making it truly and completely eco-friendly.

While the car can tango on its pretty awesome suspension, it amalgamates the features of ergonomic design with clean power to deliver big time. Now just don’t hold your breath on this one coming to the roads!

Swedish supercar marque Koenigsegg and NLV Solar AG, a pioneer in photovoltaics and accumulator technology, have joined forces to create the Koenigsegg Quant Concept. The brainchild of this marriage of power and energy is a four-seater solar electric car. A full-scale model is to be unveiled at the 2009 Geneva Salon, with the two companies currently working on running prototypes to scale up for series production.

The project was born when NLV Solar AG commissioned the environmentally aware Swedish supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg to develop and design a “car of the future”, incorporating NLV Solar’s groundbreaking, proprietary technology in the felds of photovoltaics and accumulators.

In 2008, the two companies signed a co-operation agreement to create a test vehicle for a unique propulsion system which makes optimum use of the solar technologies developed by NLV Solar AG, allied with an innovative accumulator unit. The groundbreaking thin-flm solar-cell coating is being implemented in one of Koenigsegg’s signature avant-garde designs.

The EVE concept is a passenger car that runs on both electric and solar power. The windshield carries a coating for solar energy storage, while the electric energy serves as the primary power option. A color changing car is always cool. And with an eccentric design thrown in, the appeal is further enhanced. The EVE concept may not sound like a car you would see anytime soon, but when it does see a market launch, rest assured you aren’t going to get enough of it.

Hail to the fabulously crafted backless sports mobile concept from Spain called ‘Seat Brisa’ (Breeze in Spanish). Apart from being posh, this slender car designed by talented Miguel Ángel Iranzo Sánchez is also enormously environment friendly. The sturdy vehicle with trendy yet comfortable seating thrusts on sun power, while the nano-photovoltaic cells within its semi-transparent covering translates power to the rear wheel. Thus the automobile uses nature as its driving force and is geared with killer looks making the stylishly crafted Brisa worth every effort by the designer.