A solar powered car designed and built by students has broken the world record for the fastest time to complete a 1,000km trip on a single charge.
The Sunswift 7 was made by students at UNSW Sydney in Australia and completed the course in 11 hours and 52 minutes, beating the previous record by 8 minutes.
The challenge was held at the Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC) in Wensleydale, Victoria and saw the vehicle complete 240 laps of the centre’s Highway Circuit – the equivalent of driving from Sydney to Melbourne.
Sunswift 7 is the latest iteration of a line of solar powered cars designed by students at the university.
At 500kg, its lightweight design weighs around a quarter as much as a Tesla and also features an aerodynamic shape and very low rolling resistance.
The motors and drive chain are incredibly efficient and the car was able to achieve an energy consumption of just 3.8 kWh/100km as it completed the course with an average speed of nearly 85kph (53mph).
Team Principal, Professor of Practice Richard Hopkins said that the most efficient electric vehicles currently in use are only able to achieve a rating of 15kWh/100km with the average being closer to 20kWh/100km.
Design principles could eventually find their way into mainstream cars
He added that the Sunswift 7 was not a future production car as it was expensive to build and sacrificed comfort for efficiency.
It also lacks features required by most road vehicles, such as airbags and air conditioning systems.
It did, however, show that cars can be made more efficient, sustainable and environmentally friendly.
He likened it to Formula One, which is a driver for technology that sometimes filters down into everyday vehicles without anyone expecting to see F1 racing cars on the road.
The record attempt was not without its drama as the team encountered a battery management issue that brought the vehicle to a standstill.
The rules of the challenge state that a vehicle cannot be stationary for more than 15 minutes at a time and the team went right to the wire, taking 14 minutes and 52 seconds to rectify the issue.
Prof. Hopkins paid tribute to his team and said that the whole year had led them to this point.
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