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| Clemson University's solar-powered Deep Orange 17 EV |
The boxfish-inspired "Luminetta" prototype proves that energy-positive commuting is closer than you think
In the fall of 2024, BMW set students at Clemson University an unusual challenge. They were asked to build an electric car that generates more energy than it uses during a daily city commute. Nearly two years later, the students revealed a strange-looking prototype that has the automotive industry taking notice.
The Clemson team officially called it the Deep Orange 17 and nicknamed it the Luminetta, a name meant to evoke both its solar capability and its retro-modern styling. The two-door coupe looks like a shoebox. However, underneath its goofy exterior lies some ingenious engineering that could reshape how we think about sustainable mobility.
Read the full announcement from Clemson University here
BMW sponsored the project through Clemson's Deep Orange program, and the company was just as eager to see it come to fruition. Stephan Augustin, BMW's project manager for research and new technologies, said it was rewarding to watch the students "overcome so many technical challenges and constraints" throughout the build and bring an energy-positive vehicle to life.
Rethinking what an electric vehicle can be
Rather than optimizing solely for standardized driving cycles, the students focused on how people actually use their vehicles every day. Passenger vehicles spend most of their time parked, creating opportunities to harvest solar energy throughout the day. The team also designed the vehicle to capture solar energy while driving, allowing sunlight to become a continuous source of energy generation during everyday use.
The result is a lightweight, solar-integrated coupe designed around drivers who value ease of driving, energy efficiency, and reduced dependence on charging infrastructure.
Anshul Karn, the graduate student who served as project manager, noted how unusual that scope is at the master's level, pointing out that many engineering programs teach digital modeling or marketing as coursework, but very few hand students a vision and ask them to carry it through to a working prototype.
An EV with plenty of interesting design choices
As for the technical aspects, the Luminetta weighs just 1,212 pounds, roughly a quarter of the weight of a comparable production car. That comes down to its multi-material chassis, which pairs structural steel for passenger safety with aluminum components, carbon fiber structural members, and 3D-printed metal joints.
The body borrows the shape of a boxfish for aerodynamic reasons. Regenerative braking, intelligent torque distribution, and optimized drivetrain controls all work in sync to squeeze as much extra range as possible from every charge. Clemson has not published horsepower or torque figures for the motor, and the university's materials emphasize efficiency over raw output.
Solar integration that actually works
The real star of the show is the exterior skin, which carries more than 1,700 photovoltaic cells integrated directly into the vehicle's outer surfaces, harvesting energy both parked and in motion. Rather than serving as an auxiliary feature, solar power is a core part of the vehicle's propulsion strategy.
These cells were developed in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. Their construction allows them to continue generating power even when portions of the panel are shaded, addressing one of the biggest challenges with vehicle-integrated photovoltaics. The panels are protected by a durable outer film featuring a distinctive color created through an advanced laser manufacturing process.
The students modeled sunlight and climate conditions in Greenville, South Carolina; Frankfurt, Germany; Madrid, Spain; and Mumbai, India, and found that over a 12-mile daily commute, surplus solar energy added an average of 31 miles of driving range across the four locations, roughly two and a half times the length of the commute itself.
Inside, a custom human-machine interface serves up real-time vehicle telemetry alongside Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, creating a connected driving experience that balances innovation with everyday usability.
"The students modeled sunlight and climate conditions in Greenville, Frankfurt, Madrid, and Mumbai, and found that over a 12-mile daily commute, surplus solar energy added an average of 31 miles of driving range across the four locations — roughly two and a half times the length of the commute itself."
More than just a school project
The 16 students behind the project graduated on August 7 with master's degrees in automotive engineering, but the car isn't disappearing. It stays at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) in Greenville as a platform for further work, and it is scheduled to appear at CES 2027.
Harsh Manghnani, the Deep Orange team member who served as solar integration lead, captured the team's sentiment perfectly: "This was an incredibly challenging project—not only to create a working energy-positive prototype, but to demonstrate how a vehicle can become increasingly energy independent through solar integration. Seeing our initial research and design validated in a working prototype has been incredibly rewarding."
The collaboration between BMW and Clemson spans more than two decades. BMW was a founding partner of CU-ICAR in 2007, helping establish Clemson's Department of Automotive Engineering and the world's first PhD program in automotive engineering. This is the fifth Deep Orange project BMW has sponsored, following earlier concepts focused on Gen-Y mobility, human-machine interface innovation, a next-generation SUV design, and a reimagined MINI experience.
The future of energy-positive mobility
Deep Orange Program Director Dr. Greg Mocko believes the students will leave with far more than a diploma. "I think once the project is complete and the students have had some time to reflect, they'll truly appreciate what they've accomplished and how much they've grown—not only as engineers, but also as individuals and as a team over the past two years."
While the Luminetta remains a prototype, it demonstrates that energy-positive commuting is technically achievable. The combination of extreme lightweight construction, aerodynamic efficiency, and comprehensive solar integration offers a glimpse at what future electric vehicles might look like as the industry moves toward greater energy independence and reduced reliance on charging infrastructure.
For now, the boxfish-shaped coupe will continue its work at CU-ICAR, serving as a rolling laboratory for the next generation of automotive engineers. And if its CES 2027 appearance generates the kind of buzz the Deep Orange program has come to expect, don't be surprised if some of its innovations start showing up in production vehicles sooner than you might think.
Want to learn more about the Deep Orange program and its innovative vehicle prototypes? Visit Clemson University's Deep Orange program page for additional details.