‘It keeps on going’: driving the world’s first production-ready solar car

Makers of the 250,000 Lightyear 0 hope to convince drivers it can be a viable climate-friendly alternative

Winding past the ochre-coloured plateaux of the Bardenas Reales natural park in northern Spain, Roel Grooten nudged me to take my foot off the accelerator.

The car continued to barrel down the open stretch of road, its speed dipping only slightly. It keeps on going," said Grooten, the lead engineer for the Dutch car company Lightyear, as we whizzed through the lunar-like landscape. What you feel is nothing holding you back. You feel the aerodynamics, you feel the low-rolling resistance of the tyres, of the bearings and the motor."