Solar-powered car completes first test drive on Route 66 starting in Flagstaff
About 7% of Americans own an electric car. However, no one owns a solar-powered car, but that could soon change as one company is close to releasing the first-ever solar-powered car.
In 2019, engineer Steve Fambro co-founded Aptera with the goal of creating a car that can run solely on solar power. In 2025, that dream became a reality, with its vehicle having its first test drive in northern Arizona, which started in Flagstaff.
“We basically covered the whole thing with solar that we could drive 30-40 miles a day just from solar and that’s what most Americans drive every day,” Fambro said. “So that would mean that most people just wouldn’t have to plug it in.”
Fambro said new solar panel technology was key to making the car run.
“The ability to really make them into reliable, smooth curved panels like you see on the vehicle there in the picture, it didn’t really exist,” he said. “So we had to invent that technology. Our focus is making every journey powered by the sun.”
The car can drive over 300 miles on a single electric charge and then generates more power from solar while driving or parked.
Route 66 is an icon in Arizona from old Americana to connecting the country for almost 100 years. So, it was the perfect place for the first long-distance test ride of the first-ever solar-powered car.
“There’s lots of history and just to be a part of that, with an American company, an American vehicle that we built, and getting to drive on this iconic American highway,” Fambro said.
Fambro drove over 300 miles from Flagstaff through iconic Arizona and ended in Southern California while charging the car with solar.
“I think just having people see this for the first time,” he said. “It just to see it on the road with them, you know, we were in the morning traffic in Flagstaff.”
With the first road trip under Fambro’s belt, they’re confident people worldwide will be driving the car soon. The company is in its final testing phase and should start selling the vehicle by early 2026.
“It was emotionally a very good feeling, and not only for myself, but I think for the company,” Fambro said. “It’s actually working. It’s a real thing. It’s a real company, it’s a real product.”