Scaly BMW Concept Car Collects Solar Power, Then Raises Panels to Brake

Scaly BMW Beast In the top photo, the scaly flaps are down, absorbing solar power. In the bottom photo, they are raised to brake the car. Anne Forschner

The BMW Lovos car has solar photovoltaic cells all over its body

Plenty of cars can look cool and run green these days, but now designers are taking such concepts to extremes. The BMW Lovos has 260 exterior flaps that can collect solar power and act as airbrakes at the same time.

The wacky car concept comes from Anne Forschner, a 24-year-old graduate of Pforzheim University in Germany. Each scale-like flap holds solar photovoltaic cells and can move to follow the sun or act as individual airbrakes. We can only imagine that seeing a full-scale version of this car driving around might bring to mind a Beast Machine Transformer, or a ruffled feathered dino made metallic.

Perhaps it's less than likely that such a car might make the auto dealers in the near future, but we atPopSci would not be surprised to see similar concepts arise down the line.