Running Solely on Solar Power

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"You can call me a solar pioneer, or inventor, or solartaxi inventor," Palmer said. "But don't call me taxi driver." The Solartaxi is a two-seater, three wheeled car that pulls a trailer covered in solar panels. "The best source of energy we have is the sunshine that is shining for free on these solar cells. They are converting the sunshine into electricity… that goes into the battery, which is in front of the car and one is in the trailer. And from there we can take the energy, at whatever time we want, and put it back in the motor and I can accelerate at a speed of up to 50 miles per hour," Palmer said. While on his trip around the globe Palmer has met a lot of people; he said some are well known, "Prince Hassan of Jordan, Michael Bloomberg the Mayor of New York and Jay Leno" and some unknowns, "Like a drunk hitchhiker in Hungary." On the day we met with Palmer he was at CU in Boulder, just outside of the Engineering school. Wherever Louis goes, he always seems to draw a crowd and bring on plenty of questions. "Could I leave this charger (the solar cell trailer) at my house?" was the question from one gentleman who lives just outside of Boulder. Palmer explained, "Yes, that's the idea, that is actually 'the' idea. You have this (solar cells) on top of your rooftop and you either feed it back into the battery, back into the house or back into the grid, whatever." At top speed the Solartaxi goes about 50 miles an hour, but to get the most out of his miles Palmer drives closer to 40 miles an hour. However, it's not the speed of the car that concerns Palmer it's the speed at which car manufacturers are realizing the potential of this technology. "They have the old mindset," Palmer explained. "Petrol (gasoline) is coming to an end, petrol prices are rising, and this is the solution. Because people are going to have to change their mind, "They can save a lot of money, you can plug this car in, charge it for six hours and you can drive 100 miles."