| Solar Car Travels 3000 km to Win Challenge |
| Written by Hank Green | ||
| Thursday, 06 December 2007 | ||
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One seat, long, low, slow, and expensive, solar cars aren't what most people are looking for. Though the solar cars do have to deal with traffic, bad weather, kangaroos on the road, etc. we're quite a ways away from solar cars that use more energy than a vacuum cleaner (the Nuna 4 does not.) But don't let that get you down. Advances in solar technology are moving quickly. This year, the square footage of the solar panels allowed actually had to be lowered by a third because, last year, the vehicles were limited in speed not by power, but by the speed limit! More than just the solar power, advancements in light-weight materials, aerodynamics, and "genetic algorithms" (which measure efficiency while varying engine performance to find the most efficient speed given road and weather conditions) all add to the abilities of this vehicle, and in the future, we'll see them in all vehicles. Some sweet videos after the jump.
Comments
(6)
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written by net97surferx , December 06, 2007
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written by EV , December 06, 2007
I wonder why they didn't use the same number of solar panels and use the higher wattage to power larger motors and go faster. Would have reduced their time and everything.
I still don't see a car powered solely by solar ever happening, though. Bright sunlight would produce 1.4kw per square meter if you got 100% effiency in conversion. That's less than 2 horsepower. I doubt there's much you could do with a practical car on less than 10 horsepower. That's not to say we need massive 400horsepower engines, but less than 10 wouldn't really be useful.
Errors in Article & Responses
written by Ryan , December 07, 2007
Hank,
They aren't using half the array area - rule specs changed that from 8m^2 to 6m^2 partly to control speeds as Nuna3 won the rayce while traveling at the speed limit the entire way - average speed was just over 100kph (or 62mph). This car (Nuna4) can cruise at 65 mph, thereby following the 110kph traffic signs in Australia and probably tops out between 80 and 90 mph. Though they cannot sustain the speed, solar cars have been known to travel upwards of 100mph (Ashiya Sky Ace Tiga). net97surferx: while its true that it is a battery car powered by solar panels, all the energy that's stored in the battery came directly from the sun - so its the most intelligent form of solar vehicle - it'd be a waste to just try an run directly off of the sun, without some intermediate system. EV: I agree - there's a small group of people who wouldn't mind having a car that peaks at 10 horsepower (which in a vehicle this light hardly makes it slow), but for the mainstream, these cars are too expensive (Nuna 4's space-grade solar cells are worth at least $500k), fragile and ultimately too uncomfortably to be used in daily driving. That said, a lot of the principles can be used: lighter vehicle, advanced composites, battery electric powertrain, insane aerodynamics.
errors
written by Hank , December 07, 2007
Thanks for the corrections. I misread my source article. It could've been the weather, but the Nuna 4 topped out at 38 mph during this year's race.
aussie errors
written by MEOW , December 07, 2007
there aren't kangaroos on all the roads in australia!!! just like we don't have koalas in all our trees... just the ones in "whoop whoop". YAY HANK GREEN!!!
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written by andreea , March 19, 2008
How cool. This could revolutionize the car industry. Even if most people are not happy about the idea of traveling with 40 mph this is a very good way to save power. And the ecological part is the best. This is very good for our mother earth.
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Reaching a blazing-fast top speed of nearly 40 mph, the Dutch Nuon Solar Team just won the yearly Panasonic World Solar Challenge (car race) in Australia. Every once in a while, I'll get a comment asking why there aren't solar-powered cars on the road. And though it's extremely impressive to carry the body of man 3000 km using only the power of the sun, it's also obvious why we haven't seen solar powered cars yet.
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It's a bit deceptive. It's not really a solar car, running on cells.
It's more a battery car... and all the cells are there for recharging. So, technically, it's batteries with a solar charger. Since the 90's, more have used the solar side during 'standard operations' to power the instrumentation and trickle charge a little to cut their 'end of day' charging time.... especially since some of the slower cars (or ones side lined due to problems) miss the end of charging and have to make up for it (and lose time) charging the next morning.
Still.. it is cool to see them work and nice to think we could go 'all solar' some day.