THE world's first energy-positive solar-powered family car which generates more energy than it consumes on average, Stella Lux, made its Chinese debut yesterday as it began taking part in Shanghai's smart connected car pilot program.

Built by students from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, the four-seat vehicle has a solar panels-extended roof that can support a range of up to 1,500 kilometers. The car also comes with various vehicle-to-vehicle/infrastructure (V2X) secure connected technologies and micro-controllers supplied by semiconductor maker NXP. These enable cars to communicate with each other and infrastructure equipment to improve traffic and safety.

"This car will test to what extent societies are ready for game-changing innovations," said Taake Manning, counsellor for innovation, technology and science at the Royal Dutch Embassy in China.