GM Unveils the First Solar-Powered Car

What Happened?

The Sunmobile made its debut on August 31, 1955, at General Motors’ Powerama auto show in Chicago, an event showcasing the company’s sprawling empire of diesel engines, machinery, and military equipment. Amid all that petroleum-fueled muscle, William G. Cobb’s miniature solar car offered a glimpse of an entirely different future.

The car itself was only 15 inches long, more toy than transportation. But it harnessed a cutting-edge process called photovoltaics. Twelve photoelectric cells made of selenium captured sunlight and converted it into electricity, powering a small motor. That motor turned a pulley connected to the rear axle, moving the tiny vehicle forward without gasoline, exhaust, or noise.

Visitors marveled at this futuristic curiosity, though few understood its significance. At a time when the automotive industry was wedded to gasoline and America’s highways were filling with tail-finned cruisers, Cobb’s Sunmobile hinted at the possibility of cleaner, renewable energy sources for transportation.

No full-sized solar-powered cars followed immediately. The first drivable model wouldn’t appear until the 1960s, and solar-powered race cars wouldn’t emerge until the late 20th century. Yet Cobb’s Sunmobile was a spark—a reminder that alternative energy could be engineered, even in a world dominated by fossil fuels.

Today, companies around the globe experiment with solar-integrated vehicles, from Dutch startup Lightyear’s solar EVs to California’s Aptera solar-powered cars. While no mass-produced car yet runs fully on sunlight, the Sunmobile of 1955 stands as the playful but profound beginning of solar-powered transportation.

Why It Matters

Cobb’s 15-inch Sunmobile might have seemed like a novelty at the time, but it marked the dawn of solar energy in the automotive imagination. By demonstrating that sunlight could be harnessed to move a machine—even a tiny one—he introduced the idea of a renewable energy future decades before climate change was part of public discourse. Today, as humanity races to move beyond fossil fuels, the Sunmobile reminds us that innovation often starts small, and that even the simplest demonstrations can ignite whole fields of technology.