Nuna 3 wins World Solar Cup for the 3rd Time

jberends writes "The Dutch TU Delft team wins for the third time in a row the World Solar Challenge in Australia. The average speed of Nuna 3 was 102.75 km/h over the 3021 km strech which is the first time that an average speed above 100 km/h is achieved in the Challenge. It is also the first time in the history of the race that a team wins 3 times in a row."

Comments

History

[MyLongNickName]

I was amazed to see that this race has been run since 1987. In the first race, the average speed was about 67 kph (41 mph, I think). The last race was completed in excess of 105kph. About a 50% improvement.

Does anyone with more info than the web site know what has accounted for the improvement? Are we just seeing lighter materials? More efficient solar sails? More efficient transfer of solar energy to kinetic?

Just curious :)

Actually 105 km/hr

[karvind]

On the second day the Nuna 3 covered 835 km, at an avarage speed of 105 km/hr, which is also single-day record for the World Solar Challenge.

Not without flemish women

[laurensv]

Yes, but not without our 2 lovely Flemish girls: Anne-Marie and Veronique.
Although Laura isn't half bad either.

Re:Fuel cell rather than battery?

[Ungrounded Lightning]

The vanadium oxidation-state fuel cell looks like a better candidate than the hydrogen/oxygen/water cycle. Seems to be under development currently.

The problem with solar cars is that the amount of sunlight striking them isn't adequate: A square yard is only getting about 1 1/3 HP worth of power in direct noon sunlight, BEFORE conversion inefficiencies (which lose maybe 4/5 of it just for starters).

Now you CAN get to freeway speeds with an ultrastreamlined vehicle, on a nearly level surface, running under the clear skys and on the dry pavement of the driest continent on the planet. But that's not going to haul loads up mountain passes in a forest, or do much of ANYTHING in northern lattitude, perpetually-cloudy, often wet or snow-covered places like Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Wisconsin, ...

Solar powered cars - with the solar cells ON the car - are an interesting toy. They might advance some parts of vehicle technology significantly, and possibly lead to practical stored-power alternative-energy powered vehicles. But don't expect a sun-car as practical transportation in the future.

If self-collecting sun powered vehicles were practical I'd think evolution would already have produced sun-powered ambulatory beings above the level of the flatworm/algae symbiosis.