The Solar Powered Electric Car From Back In 1960 (Video)

Some electric cars use roof-mounted solar panels to provide supplementary electric power.

In fact, a solar roof seems to have become an obligatory accessory on electric and plug-in hybrid concept cars.

But the idea of a solar-powered electric car is far from new.

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It dates back to 1960, in fact, and the first car to be converted to run on solar power was already an anachronism then.

That's because the vehicle in question was a 1912 Baker electric car, modified with a roof-mounted solar panel by Dr. Charles Alexander Escoffery.

The Baker was one of a handful of electric cars that actually became quite popular at the turn of the 20th century, before gasoline cars came to dominate the market.

Escoffery modified what was already a pretty old car in 1960 with 26 square feet of solar cells, according to a period Life article excerpted on the Land Art Generator Initiative website.

The solar panel was used to charge the car's onboard batteries. The car was capable of one hour of driving at 20 mph, as detailed in the above video clip.

Solar-car design has advanced quite a bit in the ensuing decades, although solar-powered production cars are likely still a ways off.