The beginning

Eric and Marco met in Palo Alto in 2016 by chance. While they were from very different backgrounds, they shared a passion for pushing technical boundaries. Over a couple of beers, they discussed various technical projects that they were passionate about outside of work and how technology can improve the world.

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The conversation ended up centered around solar energy: solar cars have been around for more than two decades, solar boats have appeared in the last ten years, and there are now even commercial offerings—a solar plane, Solar Impulse, made the news by flying around the globe a few months ago.
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Tokai Challenger, 2011
​Credits: Kohei SAGAWA, Hideki KIMURA

TU Delft, 2017
​Credits: Paulschellekens

Solar Impulse, 2018
Credits: Heard on Morning Edition

But what about solar trains? They’d never heard of such a thing.
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Solar Bullet Train
Toy offered on FocusGood

This is how the journey to build a solar train started.

- Marco

Note: Byron Bay Train claims to be the first solar train. It entered service in 2017. However, it’s actually an electric train powered by batteries, which are charged using solar panels at each station. In its current state, it’s not a fully autonomous solar train.​