The world’s largest sustainability tour is coming to Nexus Park Waterfall City 24 February 2025 from 9am – 11am. The SolarButterfly is a solar powered, 30-feet-long house in the shape of a butterfly which charges an electric vehicle (TESLA) that tows it.
The SolarButterfly’s goal is to visit and publish 1 000 climate pioneers and their solutions, and to visit schools and raise awareness for climate change. The Butterfly symbolises the society’s transition away from fossil fuels towards clean technologies.
“We’re thrilled to host this feat of innovation and demonstration of sustainability at Waterfall City this weekend. It is representative of the importance of renewable energy sources and is especially apt in a country like South Africa with high solar potential. We are continuing to explore increased use of solar energy across Waterfall City,” says Mischa Tessendorf, Sustainability project Manager at Attacq.
The SolarButterfly’s equipment includes unique large solar panels that unfold into giant ‘butterfly wings’. With more than 80 m2 of solar panels it can produce enough energy to travel up to 200 km per day. During the day, the vehicle can charge its battery and is open to the public. It has a kitchen, bathroom and a living room, accommodating a crew of up to five people. This is the world’s first vehicle largely built from Ocean PET, plastic bottles gathered at sea and processed.
The main tour sponsor is maxon, a leading Swiss company for precision drives. While global warming is the biggest threat for the future of humanity, all solutions already exist. We want to show that lots of innovative clean solutions are available that create jobs and save money! A transition of our society, like a butterfly, is needed now!” says Louis Palmer, Swiss solar pioneer.
The cost of the four-year journey and project will be raised via crowdfunding, the selling of digital solar cells, and sponsors and partners who share the same mission to stop global warming.
Since the start of the tour in 2022, the Butterfly has travelled over 75 000 km and visited 42 countries globally. The SolarButterfly has taken off in Cape Town on 10th of February, and now it’s on its way to Pretoria and Durban. The tour will end in Brazil in November 2025 at the UN World Climate Change Conference.
