Never underestimate the ability of the marginal exciting stuff to generate PR !

Trina Solar,  is  supplying  wing-loaded  solar cells (I never thought I'd ever write that !), for a small 2 seater electrically powered aeroplane to be built by France-based Lisa Airplanes.

See this French language site here - way better than the English one - for an idea of what it would be like. And here's a picture;



It will be called the Hy-Bird. Basically, the same aircraft with solar panel wings.

On a separate note, I've been experimenting with a plug in 1.5w solar panel on my, "ordinary-priced car" ! that connects straight into my cigarette lighter while sitting on the dashboard. The first observation is that the car starts much more quickly when I turn the key. The second is that when I remove the keys from the ignition, if the sun is still shining, the stereo keeps working !

That's why I suspect there's a lot more scope for small solar panels to become standard in vehicles tomorrow in much the same way that airbags are today, rather than an explosion of - albeit fascinating - aircraft like these.