STORMS River Village was paid a surprise visit by the Solar Butterfly, the world’s largest solar-powered vehicle, which is on a four-year educational journey around the world – much to the delight of residents.
The butterfly made a pit stop on its Climate Pioneer World Tour 2022-2025 for a quick charge in the parking area of Taste Bistro in the village on February 14.
A post on the village chat group quickly brought residents around.
The Solar Butterfly comprises a 3-ton trailer with a small kitchen and bathroom, sleeping space, and areas for solar batteries and solar panels – towed by a Tesla Model X 100 electric vehicle.
The trailer has solar panels that open like wings to recharge when stationary.
In addition, it carries about 20 huge solar panels, which were set out in the parking area to recharge for about two hours.
The Tesla can do about 400km with the trailer when fully charged.
They also make use of EV charging points when available.
So far, the butterfly has visited Europe, England, The Everglades, The Grand Canyon, Mexico, Istanbul, and India, to name just a few.
The aim is to search for and share solutions for climate change with the message, “Transformation from fossil fuels to clean renewable energies and other technologies is possible.”
The team members for the South African leg of the tour are Martin Baumeler, Walter Koeppel, and Job Meinders.
They started from Cape Town at the beginning of February and planned stops at Jeffreys Bay and Gqeberha after leaving Storms River.
They are currently on their way to Bloemfontein.
They will be in Johannesburg towards month-end, then spend a week in the Kruger National Park before heading for Durban, the last stop of the South African trip.
The tour started in May 2022 at the United Nations in Geneva and aims to travel through six continents and visit 90 countries until December 2025.
The goal is to reach the United Nations Climate Change Conference in South America in 2025, for the 10th anniversary of the UN Paris Climate Change Agreement.
For more information, visit the Solar Butterfly website: https://solarbutterfly.org/.
