But the car has helped spur interest and technological innovations for better vehicle lights, low-resistance tires and more efficient electric motors, he said.
He's been touring the continent, stopping at schools and government offices, staying with friends of friends or acquaintances for more than a year, trying to push solar power.
"I want to save the planet, to inspire people," he said. He said he's sunk "everything I've ever made," or about $500,000, into the project, not counting the time and labor.
"I call myself stubborn," da Luz said.
An old high school friend of Don Patterson's, whose wife, Iris, teaches music at Forest Ridge, inspired the local family to put da Luz and his friends up for a few nights and have him show the car at the school.
"I think it's wonderful. It's a great science lesson for the kids," Iris Patterson said.
They also learned something about following a dream.
"The most important thing wasn't the building" of the car, which took two years just to plan, da Luz said. "It was the believing."
