Recently an Alaskan resident called 911 to report a UFO sighting. No I’m not kidding. This particular person had just witnessed an all-electric, solar-powered car drive by and was convinced Earth was being invaded.

Perhaps confused by a dazzling combination of simply being outside, coupled with the sleek shape of the car, the resident ran to their phone and alerted the authorities about this new alien menace – perhaps on a mission to steal delicious earthling brains.

They needn’t have worried however. The spaceship was none other than Marcelo da Luz’s “Power of One” solar-powered vehicle, currently participating in the Ice Challenge.

The Ice Challenge is taking place on the seasonal ice road that runs between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The road covers 180 km each way over the frozen Mackenzie River and Arctic Ocean.

Apart from the occasional Alaskan trying to stop his alien craft, the hardest part of the journey will be the fact there’s no heater on-board his car. Heaters are an immense waste of electrical energy (as anyone with a plug-in electric heater will know), and in a solar powered car every little watt makes a difference.

Da Luz lies on a long seat inside the car with his head poking out of an enclosed bubble. The car has 893 solar panels which can take the car up to 120 km/h. On a sunny day, it can travel a distance of 483 km. Da Luz said the car runs in freezing temperatures, but it remains to be seen how it will fare driving on the daunting 180-km ice road.

I wish Marcelo a safe and enjoyable journey, with my only advice being to leave his foil-covered pointed hat at home to avoid spooking the locals. Those Canadians can be as ruthless as Alaskans when their delicious brains are threatened.