World Solar Challenge 2011 Starts In Two Weeks

First time accepted submitter SustainableJeroen writes "In less than two weeks the bi-annual World Solar Challenge will start. Around forty teams, mostly made up of university students from around the globe, will battle each other for first place in the de facto world championship of solar car racing. The teams will race each other on the 3000km Stuart highway between Darwin and Adelaide, while dodging road trains, dust devils and kangaroos. The fastest teams will cover this distance in four to five days, while it is by no means certain that all teams will make it to the finish line. In 2009, the Tokai University team from Japan unexpectedly took first place in this high-tech brain sport, with four-time winner Nuon Solar Team having to settle for second place. Who will win this edition? There are a number of very strong contenders, but as the differences among the top teams and their cars are very, very small it's impossible to say in advance."

Comments

Drop in the bucket! Miracles needed.

[jmactacular]

This is cool from an engineering perspective, but solar panel tech is a drop in the energy density bucket. We need revolutionary leaps forward in science here. You can help, add your name to the White House petition. There are several other petitions you might find of interest as well...

Direct NASA/DARPA-E to begin the next Manhattan project to invent a new domestic energy source that gets a 1,000 MPGE.
http://wh.gov/ghD

Abolish the TSA, and use its monstrous budget to fund more sophisticated, less intrusive counter-terrorism intelligence.
http://wh.gov/gRT

Direct the Patent Office to Cease Issuing Software Patents
http://wh.gov/gEm

Legalize and Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol.
http://wh.gov/gDQ

Don't forget the 2011 Solar Decathalon

[jrifkin]

This bears some resemblance to another competition, the 2011 Solar Decathalon, that just finished its week on the National Mall in Washington DC.

Each team designed and built a 900+ square foot energy efficient home over the past two years, and then shipped them to DC to display them for the week.

It was sponsored by the Department of Energy. Nineteen universities participated; 15 from the US and 4 from other countries; Canada, Belgium, New Zealand (the third place winner) and China.

You can see more about it here, http://www.solardecathlon.gov./

Re:Yeah. Take the easy challenge

[evilviper]

Solar is eons away from being a power source for cars anyone could actually use.

Not at all. What's the #1 complaint about electric cars we currently have? RANGE. Now your car doesn't have enough surface area to be powered entirely by solar, but if it could extend your range by 10%, or maybe tip the scales so you don't have to plug-in at the office (or the beach, the park, the store, etc) to make it home, it would be a huge plus. How about just float-charging batteries, or providing sufficient power than infrequently used vehicles don't need to be plugged-in?

Solar cars aren't viable, but that isn't the point

[grimsnaggle]

I am the previous captain of the Stanford team and will be following the team across the outback again this year as a groupie. Racing itself is arguably the least important part of the overall race effort. While it allows you to choose winners and losers, on its own it doesn't contribute much to the overall solar car team experience. The race is only a few days long, but the effort to get there takes years.

To all of you criticizing the value of solar cars: The point of solar racing isn't to prove that solar cars are a viable mode of transportation. It's to be an extreme engineering exercise for students. Through it they learn project management, budget management, marketing, engineering optimization, teamwork, and real-world design skills. It takes an immense amount of thinking and excellent execution to build a car that weighs a few hundred pounds that can cruise down the freeway at 65 mph all day long on the power of a toaster and that doesn't break after bumping through the desert for thousands of miles.

For what it's worth, Tesla Motors was born out of the Stanford solar car team. Their first battery pack was made in our shop years ago as part of JB's retrofit of his old Porsche. Mission Motors owes quite a bit of its heritage to solar car racing as well, with its founders coming from the Stanford and Yale teams.

If any of you are in the SF bay area, I encourage you to come take a look at one of these cars in person. Our latest entry, Xenith, will be back on campus in January and we enjoy hosting visitors. Just send an email through the form on the Stanford Solar Car Project website.

World Solar Challenge 2011 Starts In Two Weeks

[lewko]

Or three, if it's cloudy.

Re:Yeah. Take the easy challenge

[Anrego]

I think even that 10% is a pretty long ways off.

When I watch footage of this stuff, I get visions of those films of early flying contraptions. That is where we are at. I think solar is the future, but I think we are quite far from practical usage in cars and homes.