Heads turn as a high-pitched whirring sound zooms up the leafy main street of Haberfield in Sydney's inner west.

A bright red mini-van covered in small solar panels zips up the street. 

Behind the wheel is industrial engineer, inventor, and solar-power enthusiast Ziga Dorkic.

Ten years ago he took out the Daihatsu Hijet's engine and replaced it with ride-on lawnmower motors, batteries from laptops, and plugged it into his rooftop solar panels.

He remembers knowing he was onto a winner on his first drive.

"It took me six months on and off," Mr Dorkic said.

"I felt straight away 'this is going to be good'."

Mr Dorkic is a master of DIY self sufficiency. He installed his own rooftop solar array, which has enough power to also power his neighbours.

His garage houses 35 machines that could make so many parts he says he could build an airplane.

But it's a passion for the environment and a famous desert race that inspired the invention he's the most proud of.

The job that inspired the car:

Mr Dorkic came to Australia when he was 21 in 1969 from Belišće, an industrial town in modern day Croatia.

He says he was drawn here by an ad calling for engineers to migrate to Australia.

He went on to work many engineering jobs, including for companies that made carpets, small goods, and a printing company. He also made machines that produced synthetic grass used at the Sydney Olympics.

Mr Dorkic also put his engineering and electronics know-how into his own home.

He built his home solar power system 20 years ago using panels from a collapsed manufacturer and collects the power in second-hand forklift batteries.

But it was while studying at TAFE where he found his greatest passion.

He was studying electronics at Strathfield when his professor asked him to help out with the solar racing car team at Meadowbank. 

The car was competing in the World Solar Challenge race across the Australian outback.

"I helped them a lot. Then I said 'well why shouldn't I make one for myself?'," Mr Dorkic said.

From $100 to never paying for fuel:

The van is a model of reusing second-hand electronics.

He got it second hand from an ad in The Trading Post newspaper for $100, then began turning it into an electric vehicle that would be powered by his rooftop solar.

He took out the engine and sold it for $150, replacing it with three 10-horsepower electric motors from ride-on lawn mowers.

He added 8,000 batteries from power tools and laptops, which hook up to a cable that runs down the side of his house from the panels when he charges the van out the front of his home.

When it's not plugged into the home the van's batteries are being charged by a 1-kilowatt panel on its roof and small panels on the sides which charge the indicators and lights.

He hasn't done a major road trip outside of Sydney but says he has never run out of charge on a drive.

"I can easily get 200-300 [kilometres]," Mr Dorkic said.

"I've driven it around Sydney from Concord Hospital round to Parramatta and then Woodville [Road], that's about 90km. And then I only used a quarter [of the batteries' charge].

"Even if I'm stuck somewhere we just have to wait a couple of hours and it'll self charge and bring me home."

'We just have one Earth':

For 10 years Mr Dorkic has driven the van knowing his fuel is carbon emissions-free.

He's concerned about the environment and climate change, and believes more people should take up solar-powered vehicles.

"Look at the weather, its changing like mad," Mr Dorkic said.

"We should all have our own power, we should drive a car like that.

"We just have one Earth. You have to look after it."

He'd love to make another one for someone else, however, most people that ask him walk away once he tells them the batteries would cost around $30,000.

Nonetheless, he's pleased to hear that electric vehicles are becoming cheaper, so his dream of solar-powered vehicle uptake is potentially more of a reality.

At 75 years of age, the DIY enthusiast is showing no signs of slowing down — and neither does his whirring, red van.

Original Story By | Declan Bowring