It seems that California is becoming the new hub for innovations when it comes to transportation, be it in terms of electric vehicles or software. Some pretty renowned names like Tesla, Lucid Motors and Fisker all hail from California. As the world comes to terms with the ongoing EV race, the electric vehicle ecosystem continues to grow and of course, the development of these cars is now reaching new heights. And in that regard, Humble Motors, a California-based electric vehicle startup, has unveiled its first concept SUV called the Humble One. But this is not any regular EV. Let us elaborate.
The Humble One is a solar-powered SUV, making it the first of its kind in the world. Instead of a regular roof (or a panoramic glass roof as is the trend these days), the Humble One features over 80 square feet of engineered photovoltaic cells that capture sunlight and transform it into energy. This generates enough electrical power to increase driving range by nearly 96 kilometres a day. Of course, aerodynamic efficiency plays a huge role with respect to range of an EV and in that context, the Humble One boasts of a drag coefficient of 0.25. Pretty clean indeed.
Also Read : Tesla's 'Full-Self Driving' Beta Is Concerning and Dangerous In Real World - Video
Humble is certainly not sandbagging when it comes to range and performance numbers. The Humble One can deliver a maximum driving range of 805 km and the electric motor can pump out a maximum output of 1020hp. These numbers will have any Tesla vehicle worried. The Humble One concept SUV measures over 5 meters in length. That's longer than most premium sedans out there. However, in spite of its considerably large foot print, the One weighs 1814 kilograms. That's pretty light for an EV given that most performance EVs weigh over 2 tons.
And how do you charge an electric vehicle that's powered by solar energy? Well, you just leave it under the sun. Heck, you don't even need Tesla's network of superchargers. The company has, however, not provided much details about the exact time it takes to charge from 0 to 100%, something we are very eager to know. We also wonder what happens on a rainy day. Well, this is still a concept and far from production. Still, the carmaker has revealed that they have received more than $20 million in reserved pre-orders and its US reservations increased 426% last month.
Dima Steesy, founder of Humble Motors, said "We think solar is the future of mobility and that solar-powered electric vehicles are the clear next step to tackling carbon neutrality in the transportation ecosystem." Humble's team draws from a broad mix of physicists, engineers, and designers from automotive manufacturers including Ferrari, Piaggio, Formula One, and Ford. Deliveries of this SUV are only expected to commence sometime in 2024.
Stay tuned to IndianAutosBlog.com for more such interesting stories and other four-wheeler news.
