Solar airplane the Sunseeker II, will be flying over Europe this Spring.

Eric Lentz Gauthier of Solar Flight says, “The exact dates and destinations that the tour will cover are not set in stone right now. The first leg will be from Freidrichshafen, Germany down to Sicily and then back up to Switzerland. From there the Sunseeker will be flown over the Swiss Alps to the Austrian Dolomites and through to Slovenia. From Slovenia we will fly West through Italy again, then Southern France down to Spain.”

Eric Raymond, designer of the Sunseeker, told a German magazine, ”

With its current generation of batteries, solar cells and electronics installed in 2005, the Sunseeker II has never been forced to land before late afternoon.

The magic part begins when I near cloud base. With my batteries full, or nearly so, I switch on the motor, and climb up between the clouds, once on top, I can throttle back to fy on direct solar power in the clear, bright conditions over the clouds. Under direct solar power, the Sunseeker II is basically a one-speed airplane, fying about 18 m/s (~40 mph). When soaring conditions are present or if the batteries are used, faster speeds near 36 m/s (~80 mph) are possible. When I fnally shut off the motor, it takes hours to glide down, and the airbrakes are normally needed to get down before dark.”

ZTE of China just unveiled the world’s first low-cost cell solar powered cell phone. The Coral-200-Solar uses a small solar panel on the back of the phone to receive its energy.

Charge time to talk time is 4:1 with it taking one hour in the sun to get enough juice for 15 minutes of conversation.

ZTE general manager, Wang Yong Zhong, spoke to reporters at a trade show yesterday saying that, “We estimate in the world there are more than two billion people who have limited or no access to electricity.”

In partnership with the emerging network operator Digicel, the Coral-200-Solar will launch first in Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Haiti where ZTE expects to sell approximately 300,000 in the first year.

This comes amidst several similar announcements for other solar powered cell phones. Phones like Samsung’s Blue Earth are marking a serious trend in the proliferation of solar powered gadgets.

Here’s a nifty new solar-powered gadget. If you own an iPhone, you can now juice it up with solar power with Brando’s solar-powered leather case.

The leather case fits both the 2G and the 3G model of the iPhone and uses solar power to recharge your phone when the battery is low in an environmentally friendly way.

You can get your case at Brando’s online store for $48.

Looking for a kids toy sans batteries or those dangerous electrical plugs? This solar-powered toy monkey that uses solar energy to climb the rope, hand over hand, might be just the ticket. The eco-friendly, solar-powered toy will cost you around $20.

The solar-powered toy monkey is marketed as a toy that will help kids “appreciate the power of alternative energy.”  It also comes in a kit that parents will have to assemble, so it can be a neat project for parents and children.

You can get the solar propelled monkey and other solar gadgets including more solar-powered kids toys at Select Solar.