Slashdot Mirror
World Solar Challenge Set To Begin
Mdog writes: "The world championship of solar car racing is about (Nov. 18...ok so I can't wait :) ) to begin Down Under.
World Solar Challenge pits high school, university, and corporate teams against each other in a race across Australia's Outback, from Darwin to Adelaide." Mdog supplies some more (ahem) non-partisan information about the race below.
"My Alma Mater's
team (which took second in the
American Solar Challenge...go UMR!) is looking to take sweet
revenge on the evil (*g*) that is the U-Michigan Solar
Car team (which won
ASC.) Some other North American heavyweights will be
Queen's University
and U-Waterloo from the frigid north. I'll defer to Ozzies post links to their favoUrite college teams, which, along with the Japanese teams,
are often
very good. Lastly, watch out for team Solar Motions;
out for blood after
major technical problems two years ago. Their array is worth...how should I put this...a lot :)
I went two years ago, and this year I'll just be looking forward to this article getting posted on /. *sigh* Good luck and good sun to all the teams. No worries!"
... lived in Australia..
;)
Unfortunately the 2 weeks of Sun we get in the UK doesn't quite enable us to do such activities
"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story..."
The dutch entrance for this race looks really serious, the even got help from ESA. They are testing a new type of solarcell which is to be used on communication satelites. Most of the competitors in the WSR are universities (so it this one) but this is proffesional material !!
Could it be that the big oil interests have no interest in a cheap efficient environmentally friendly source of power ?
You have to wonder sometimes when good technology is ignored, is there some sort of hidden oil-company aganda ?
I wonder if a solar car is ever going to be a reality, after all, the potential market includes southern USA and a lot of developing and third-world countries. With OPEC controlling oil prices so it doesn't loose control of the energy market by making alternative energies cheap enough, I doubt that we'll ever see a solar power aided car (fueled by solar+gas) anytime in the next 30 years.
OTOH, I wonder if a plane wouldn't be an interesting use. After all they have a lot of area on top, they can fly over clouds, and the industry is always looking for ways to cut costs.
More importantly, how does this traumatize the local kangaroo population?
Besides which, everything in these solar vehicles, including the aerodynamics, efficient electric motors, the power management, and so on, is directly applicable to future fuel cell vehicles anyway.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
I have a friend that uses a solar-powered boat to go up and down the Thames and it works even in cloudy weather. Hence it's still possible even if you won't get the same ooomph.
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
Sun runs cars? I thought they only did servers and that Java stuff. I wonder if they can port this stuff to lawnmowers. I hope Microsoft doesn't get wind of this.....
Actually, they're safer than that..
Usually the battery packs are kept compartmentalised from the rest of the shell so that they can't spill onto the driver. There is also usually at least two driver's egresses built into each car (even if that egress means kicking out the bottom of the car).
The crashes that do happen are usually brought under control very quickly. The brakes on these things are usually quite good, and the cars are usually able to be salvaged (and of course the drivers are generally safe).
As long as the team is aware and treats their drivers nicely (there are some horror stories about, for example, seatbelts being tied to the chassis of the vehicle bit a couple of bits of wire), then the cars are actually quite safe.
- - -
giftedu
Medium-size oil, without the massive R&D budgets of big oil but lacking the nimbleness of startups, would likely be in big trouble if we shifted to hydrogen fuel cells.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
I happen to be a member of the Yale Solar Car team - Team Lux. So needless to say I've studied solar cars quite a bit. So...
NO: Solar cars today are an experiment in engineering, not a solution to your everyday commuting needs. We can get relatively high speeds and drive all day, but the cars are very wide and long, flat, only hold one medium-to-small person (barely) and are limited by the environment.
YES: Any electric car could easily be supplemented by the addition of a high efficiency array. It wouldn't provide enough power to drive the car all day like we do with the current crop of cars, but since most people only drive their cars about 2-4 hours a day it could help a lot, and could be a real lifesaver if you ran out of power. OTOH, even a well designed commuter car is going to be much heavier than our solar cars and have much less array area. What would make the most sense is for all carports to have arrays on top that could store and transfer energy to the cars parked under them.
MAYBE: I don't know that electrical cars or fuel cells are the (near) future. Chemically propelled cars can potentially be much simpler and more efficient, since they aren't losing power through the extra electrical storage/transformation. And you can make fuel using solar power (you already were with the fuel cells). And until efficiency actually matters and the big-ass SUVs get off the road, it just won't be safe for extra-lightweight cars.
BTW, the plane thing has already been done with the Helios project. And you're right, it has a lot of potential.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
2 Years ago I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to get involved in 1999 solar cycle event, which runs parallel to the World Solar Challenge (Alice/Adelaide).
These solar car's really hoot. Pedaling our guts out in the 40 degree heat (45km/h max) these million dollar machines cruised at over 110km/h often over taking normal road vehicles.
Many of the big budget international teams struggled with the harsh conditions. Even the smallest of problems, are logistical nightmares, as vast legs of the race are held in remote areas, 1000kms from major cities.
Even though entering WSC event requires $100,000's, money alone will not win the event and more often than not, the simplest design wins.
Nerveless I wish all the international and local teams the best of luck.
For anyone living in Adelaide, I highly recommend making the trip over to Victoria race course for the finish of the event and look at the sheer level of skilled engineering that goes into these vehicles.
Rob.
Area51 - We are watching...
I am on the University of Virginia solar car team, and I remember some of these teams from the American Solar Challenge this summer. I have a few comments on the teams:
Arizona University:
If memory serves, these are the guys whose car spun out during qualifiers and flew through the air, tearing off the suspension when it landed. When I saw it happen, I thought they were finished. They had it up and running for the race and did quite well, much better than we did.
Futura:
I see they've withdrawn. They had some problems during the ASC. I can't really say what, but they were very far back in the pack despite what should have been a very high-performing solar array.
Kansas State University:
It's sad to see these guys are out of it, because we worked with them during the ASC getting our car and their car to pass scrutineering.
Queens University:
Wow. That car is nice. That's all I can say.
South Bank University:
These guys did pretty well in the ASC. They had an accident during the race and severely damaged their body, but duct tape kept them going and competitive.
University of Michigan:
They rebuilt their car 17 days before the ASC because it was destroyed during testing. They have a GaAs solar array, Lithium Ion or Lithium Polymer batteries, a very sleek design, and 4-wheel steering. Apparently when they redid the 4-wheel steering, they replaced the mechanical linkage with an electronic control. It's the most advanced solar car I've ever seen.
University of Missouri-Rolla:
These guys nearly won the ASC despite only having a 14% efficient array. For reference, some teams had up to 26% efficient arrays. Their car is incredibly light and efficient. Nobody in the race was even close to them on mechanical efficiency.
University of Toronto:
Good car. Nothing much comes to mind. Didn't see them much because they stayed ahead of us.
University of Waterloo:
Yet another very good car. They did a very good job of integrating the wheel farings with the body to keep aerodynamic drag very low.
That's about all I have to say about that. If you want to see how the ASC went, check out their website at http://www.formulasun.org/asc/.
WARNING: there is a trojan on your
Kangaroos are daytime critters, but are sometimes active at night, and get squished by cars (or cars squished by the big ones).
Marsupial possums are often nocturnal.
Regular cars are more likely to disturb wildlife than solar cars.
wanna know more about em? australianwildlife.com.au
the route taken by the solar challenge is (I presume) chosen for maximum sun. a lot of the places on the map are incredibly dry and have little wildlife due to the lack of water. Coober Pedy is like a moonscape, Alice Springs is a lot more hospitable, as is Tennant Creek.
Water is not always easy to come by in the desert, which can have an unusual effect on wildlife.
Truck road trains and tour buses use these roads, so solar cars should be a nice change of pace.
If you're (physically) going to watch the challenge, don't miss some of the amazing places out there.