Until the end of November, the »40 Years of the Tour de Sol« exhibition in Lucerne, Switzerland, is showing around 20 original vehicles from the years 1985 to 1993, including experimental racing cars and prototypes suitable for everyday use. The exhibition commemorates the world’s first solar car race. Organized by the Swiss Solar Energy Society (SSES), the »Tour de Sol« was regarded as a testing ground for new vehicle concepts, solar technologies and drive systems.
The exhibition documents how technical pioneering spirit, creativity and conviction triggered a movement whose effects can still be felt today. Thomas Nordmann, the Tour de Sol’s press officer at the time, recalls: »40 years ago, the Tour de Sol was a utopia on wheels – today it is a reality on the road.«
Urs Muntwyler, co-organizer of the first tours, says: »The anniversary exhibition provides an insight into a pioneering phase of solar and e-mobility. Switzerland was an important driving force behind the breakthrough of solar power production back then – and it can be again.«
© PHOTON
