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Solar Powered Car Can Get Close To 60 mph

Posted by timothy on from the australians-still-on-about-transportation dept.

Jason Sahler writes with this excerpt from Inhabit: "The World Solar Challenge across the Australian outback is coming up, and we're already seeing some truly incredible vehicles going for the gold. Take the Bethany, a solar powered vehicle designed by Cambridge University students. The vehicle is capable of achieving close to 60 miles per hour. Doesn't sound too impressive? Try doing it by using the power required to run a hairdryer."

14 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. But how does it do in the crash test? by InsaneProcessor · · Score: 4, Funny

    And I don't think my entire family will fit either.

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    1. Re:But how does it do in the crash test? by Thanshin · · Score: 5, Funny

      does it do in the crash test? And I don't think my entire family will fit either.

      Are you looking for a car? Or for an alibi.

    2. Re:But how does it do in the crash test? by Nutria · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And I don't think my entire family will fit either.

      Or groceries or luggage, or run on a cloudy day.

      Solar auto challenges should be viewed as nothing more than useful engineer training that serves no immediate practical purpose, just as having my CompSci prof give me a large Senior Project, that I haven't used in my professional life, but gave me a solid foundation on which to grow.

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    3. Re:But how does it do in the crash test? by Simon+Brooke · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Solar auto challenges should be viewed as nothing more than useful engineer training that serves no immediate practical purpose...

      Disagree.

      Granted solar power is not suitable for actual every day transportation in most parts of the world, a great deal of the engineering of these cars will move into the mainstream - and sooner than you think. As fuel gets more expensive, cars will have to get much lighter, much more aerodynamic, and have much lower rolling resistance. Many of them will use battery or hybrid power systems, and regenerative braking will become commonplace. Solar cars are pioneering all these technologies.

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    4. Re:But how does it do in the crash test? by Alioth · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's a racing car. Your family and your groceries won't fit in a Formula 1 car or Indy car either. It's not supposed to be a family car or anything approximating that, it's for racing.

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  2. Pushing the limits of tech by peterdaly · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is very interesting technology. These solar races really produce odd looking vehicles. Three wheels makes sense in terms of rolling resistance, but I can help but think what might happen if it needed to take a turn fast.

    Programs like this are great, and help push the technology envelope. Although it's neat that it can hit 60Mph...the article really does not have much real information in it.

    I hope to see some of this technology filter down into production cars. I've always wondered how much power could result from the sunlight hitting the roof of my car all day long when I'm at work. Seems like there is potential missed opportunity there.

    -Pete

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    1. Re:Pushing the limits of tech by cplusplus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I've had the same thought. I'd love to be able to drive to work in a plug-in vehicle of some sort, park the car in the sun all day and let it passively recharge, and then drive home using that free power. The only thing the sun does for my car now is make the interior too damn hot (even with window tint and a sun shade).

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  3. No, not impressed. by gblackwo · · Score: 4, Informative

    Most of the North American Solar Challenge vehicles and World Solar Challenge Vehicles easily exceed 60 mph.

    I work on Purdue's Solar team and have first hand experience with these vehicles on the highway.

    www.PurdueSolar.org

    1. Re:No, not impressed. by oneiros27 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I was on the GW solar car team more than 10 years ago -- we could do 60mph back then, so I'm not impressed, either.

      The important factors included: how much sun is there are the time, are you willing to drain the batteries, and are we going uphill?

      If you've got good sun, don't have a screwed up array like we did in the '95 Sunrayce, and are willing to drain your batteries, it's easy to go over 60mph. And if you're going downhill, it's even easier.

      Of course, that year they decided to put the finish line at the top of a mountain, and we had mostly clouds for the last few days, so just about everyone showed poorly overall.

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  4. Re:Which means for the greenies... by CannedTurkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Get your SUV out of the way of my progress.

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  5. 60mph Average by zlexiss · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think (the article is badly written) that the key development is that this car can average almost 60mph. 60mph burst speeds are pretty easily reached in many solar cars. I remember doing about 65 mph back in 1993 in our cars (Dartmouth College's Sunvox I and IV)

  6. Going fast is easy. by onion2k · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually going fast is pretty easy so long as your aerodynamics are sound. All you need is enough energy input to counter air resistance and friction from the wheels and you can maintain whatever speed you like. The difficult bit is accelerating to a high speed quickly. It'd be easier to wait until people get over wanting to go fast than design a solar vehicle that can accelerate from a standstill anything like a petrol car.

    Fortunately I can see that happening. As the price of driving goes up people's priorities will change.

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  7. Re:Which means for the greenies... by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I doubt we will see a sell-able fully solar powered car in our lifetime. As there are many concepts that make it impractical
    Night Driving
    Garages
    Extended periods of poor weather.
    Tree Coverage
    Building coverage in Cities

    However out of these competitions we come with a lot of good technology more then just solar power. The fact that you car powered off the energy of a hair dryer. Could be used in many mechanical devices longer lasting battery powered devices. Heck they could use the technology and make a more efficient hair dryer.

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    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  8. EV's could do 375 miles per charge in 1997 by Colin+Smith · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Using NiMH batteries.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solectria_Sunrise

    http://www.sunrise-ev.com/

    Everyone else is just re-inventing the wheel.

    The best place of solar panels is on the roof of your house, charging up a battery bank you can use to charge the car when you park it.
     

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