Alaskan Police Pull Over Solar â€œUFOâ€ Car

A bit of hilarious news: Alaska doesn’t get much action, really, so it’s no surprise that police thought they were pulling over a UFO when they saw the above solar car tooling down the road. I’d probably have thought the same thing, except that UFOs are unidentified FLYING objects…

But it was just Marcelo da Luz in his Xof1 taking a jaunt across the state to try and set a world record. A citizen dialed 911 upon seeing the vehicle, and police chased it down but didn’t do more than ask him what was up with the crazy car.

He might have responded:

The Power of One Solar Car Project, or Xof1 for short, was initially developed with the intention to compete in the prestigious World Solar Challenge. Instead their car set off to break the world distance record for a solar car. The space age looking car weighs roughly 660 lbs (300kg) with driver and the entire top body of the car is covered by solar cells and tops out at 75mph (120 km/hr).

It's just one of 7 times he's been pulled over during the race, so he might possibly have come up with something a little more creative or colorful by this point...

Via NPR

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written by boohoo, September 10, 2008

Does this mean he now holds the world record for most times pulled over in a solar powered vehicle?

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written by Brian, September 10, 2008

Shows how paranoid and ignorant people have become.

"It's weird! it's unusual! I dont like it. i am calling the cops."

Re: Brian
written by AndyM, September 11, 2008

It's called human nature, Seńor Quixote. And it is not new, as your comments would suggest.

911?
written by Matt, September 12, 2008

Americans are just too *stupid* for democracy. Or maybe democracy makes us stupid.

Hey, Stupid! 911 = EMERGENCY as in life or property in danger.

Cops should have arrested the caller...

what do you expect?
written by jason, September 15, 2008

Well we are talking about Alaska, what else do they have to do but, breathe and try not to kill themselves out of pure boredom!!

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written by Heather, September 18, 2008

I knew there was some kind of alien invasion going on up there. This explains everything.

Really though, compliments don't get much better than this one.

One of my all time favorite articles.

Heather

solar power doesn't work
written by windy yooper, September 18, 2008

solar power doesn't work. alternative power doesn't work. i mean how can you charge for the wind, for the sun? how can we make the almighty dollar? oh, by the way, i'm attempting to be sarcastic. and please forgive any gramatical errors, i was schooled in the U.S.A.