MIT’s latest solar race car might look  futuristic but don’t laugh. It’ll do 90 mph and is packed with technology that may end up in the hybrids and EVs the rest of us will soon be driving.

The university’s Solar Electric Vehicle Team, the oldest such team in US, unveiled the $243,000 carbon-fiber racer dubbed Eleanor last Friday and is shaking the car down to prepare for its inaugural race later this year.

“It drives beautifully,” said George Hansel, a freshman physics major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the team. “It’s fun to drive and quite a spectacle.”