Pricing Login
All PR Campaigns › The Energy-Positive Solar Car

Trending PR Campaigns

The best PR campaigns right now, ranked by coverage. Updated daily.
Last 7 days Last 30 days This Quarter
Top 5 Campaign August 2026
Back
Top 5 Campaign
All Sectors · August 2026

The Energy-Positive Solar Car

PR Campaign
Thursday 6th August, 2026

BMW challenged Clemson University graduate students to build an electric car that creates more energy than it uses on a daily commute. The result was the Deep Orange 17, a quirky, shoe-shaped prototype covered in more than 1,700 solar cells and capable of generating 31 miles of energy from a 12-mile commute.

Why it worked: It married a bold, falsifiable claim (“energy-positive car”) with a weird visual (cardboard-shoe shape) and clear, commute-based metrics.

The lesson: Consider pitching a counterintuitive, testable claim tied to a daily behavior, plus an instantly memeable visual and simple, repeatable metric.

BMW Clemson University
14 Sources:

Coverage over time

How this story spread across the media

Publication Headline Date
bmwgroup.com GREENVILLE, S.C. — Clemson University has unveiled Deep Orange 17, a solar-integrated, energy-positive electric vehicle prototype designed to generate more energy than it consumes during a typical day of urban commuting. Developed in collaboration with BMW’s research and development team, the prototype integrates solar technology, lightweight engineering and intelligent vehicle controls to demonstrate that energy-positive mobility is possible. Thursday 6th August, 2026
clemson.edu Clemson University unveils Deep Orange 17, a solar-integrated, energy-positive electric vehicle | Clemson News Thursday 6th August, 2026
insideevs.com Clemson's Solar-Powered EV Project Looks Like A Cardboard Shoe. But It's A Lot More Clever Than It Looks Thursday 6th August, 2026
wspa.com Clemson automotive engineering students unveil solar-powered vehicle Thursday 6th August, 2026
autoblog.com Students Built a Solar EV That Makes More Energy Than It Uses - Autoblog Friday 7th August, 2026
topgear.com Geoff, is that you? This solar-powered coupe recovers more energy than it uses on a single commute | Top Gear Friday 7th August, 2026
autoweek.com This Solar EV Can Make More Energy Than It Uses Friday 7th August, 2026
notebookcheck.net BMW asked students to build a car that makes more energy than it uses — two years later they pulled it off - Notebookcheck News Saturday 8th August, 2026
techradar.com This tiny solar EV can generate more energy than it uses to power the daily commute Monday 10th August, 2026
electrive.com US students develop ‘energy-positive’ solar vehicle - electrive.com Monday 10th August, 2026
electrive.com US students develop ‘energy-positive’ solar vehicle - electrive.com Monday 10th August, 2026
yankodesign.com This solar-powered EV generates more energy than it uses, so you could drive without charging as often - Yanko Design Monday 10th August, 2026
newatlas.com BMW's weird Minecraft-like car harvests more energy than it uses Sunday 16th August, 2026
bgr.com This Solar-Powered BMW EV Prototype Produces More Energy Than It Needs - BGR Monday 24th August, 2026
Want PR opportunities like this for your brand?
Finchling monitors the news, competitor coverage and upcoming events to uncover timely PR angles and campaign ideas tailored to your brand.
Try it free →

Similar Automotive Campaigns

These automotive PR campaigns used a similar approach - different topics, but the same kind of angle.

Amish Tripathi AI Avatar Launch
AI avatar of Amish Tripathi launched to front a history-focused channel.
Collective Artists Network
The Lowered Pacifica Concept
Chrysler made its family minivan look unexpectedly sporty and production-ready.
Chrysler Mopar
Ferrari’s $40 Million Charity EV
Ferrari turned its first EV into a record-breaking $40 million charity auction.
Ferrari The Ferrari Foundation

FAQs

What is this?

Every day, brands launch PR campaigns and the media covers them. We scan lots of different news sources and use AI to spot the campaigns behind the stories, and show you which ones are getting the most traction right now. Think of it as a live leaderboard of what's working in PR.

Where does the data come from?

Finchling is a news monitoring tool that analyses lots of news from across the internet.

Does this track sponsored posts, or is it earned media only?

It's built to only track earned media - we use AI to filter out anything that we think is a sponsored placement.

What does "ranked by coverage" mean?

It's the number of articles. Simple as that. We're not weighting by outlet size or reach - just raw volume. The campaigns at the top are the ones generating the most stories right now.

Why isn't my campaign listed?

If you've launched a PR campaign recently and it's not included in here, and you think it should be - drop us a note and we'll investigate.

What's Finchling?

Finchling is the full product behind this page. It finds PR opportunities tailored to your brand - reactive stories to jump on and proactive campaigns to plan. This page is a taste of what Finchling sees every day. If you want the full picture, have a look.

Terms Privacy Robot
Trending Campaigns Always-On PR Report Blog
Contact Us Help & Support
© 2026 Finchling Ltd - Company Number 17076674