Thread: Solar cars begin race across Australian desert

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The World Solar Challenge began on Sunday with 42 solar cars crossing Australia’s tropical north to its southern shores, a grueling 3,000 km (1,864 mile) race through the outback.


The race from the northern city of Darwin to the southern city of Adelaide is expected to take a week for most cars, with speeds of 90-100 kmh (55-62 mph) powered only by the sun.


The fastest time was achieved by Japan’s Tokai University in 2009, completing the transcontinetal race in only 29 hours and 49 minutes.


Belgian team Punch Powertrain started first on Sunday after recording a trial time of 2:03.8 for 2.97 km (1.78 miles), hitting an average speed of 83.4 kmh (51.5mph).


But reigning 2015 champions Nuon from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands believes it has a good chance of retaining the prize.


“All the cars look completely different (this year), and all we know is we’ve got a good car, we’ve got it running perfectly the last couple of days and we’re confident we’re going to do everything to win,” tour manager Sarah Benninkbolt said Sunday.


Race director Chris Selwood said the biennial event has attracted one of the best fields ever, with teams from more than 40 countries.


“This is the 30th anniversary of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge and competitors want to be part of that. They have been drawn to the challenge of new regulations which reduced the solar array size without limiting the size of the solar car,” Selwood said.


Teams come from countries including the United States, Japan, Germany, Chile, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Belgium, Sweden, Iran, South Korea, India, Hong Kong, South Africa, Poland, Thailand, Turkey, Canada, Taiwan and Australia.


The Northern Territory Minister for Tourism and Culture, Lauren Moss said her government’s A$250,000 (US$194,150) sponsorship of the race showed it was committed to achieving 50 percent renewable energy for the territory by 2030.

“Innovation is at the heart of the event and the technology showcased this year will influence continuing solar innovation for vehicles and householders in the future,” she said.


“This event is a great promotion for the NT – it shows our ability to innovate to the world.”


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-r...-idUSKBN1CD04Y





WHERE THE CARS ARE ON THE ROAD
https://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/dashboard/map

Go Thailand!

The MSTC-2 Nikola car from Siam Technology College



STC-2


Thailand has two entrants this year.

They couldn't call the car Tesla, so they called it Nikola. Nice.
The other car, STC-1 has lead acid batteries. I would have thought weight is a big consideration.

^ The second car was the entry in last year's race. Not sure if it is racing again or another car exists for which I can find no photo.

Not racing the length of overcast and rainy Briton then?

I notice there are no solar startup companies on British Columbia's west coast.

49 TH In Australia (Darwin) Siam Technical College

This team came 28th in the Challenger class at WSC 2015. They have a school Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (as well as the team pages linked in the icons above). For 2017, they built two cars. This car, named Nikola, is entered in the Cruiser class. It has been officially revealed, and looks cool (although I’m not wild about the aero). The car is a 2-seater. It has been shipped to Australia. The second car (Edison, in the Challenger class) has been withdrawn. They flew out of Thailand on September 24. They seem not to have received their car yet. They were recently spotted in Darwin. They are in garage #29 at Hidden Valley Raceway.

The STC-2 "Nikola"



The STC-1