2009 World Solar Challenge (Oct. 24-30)

[Agent 47]

It's that time of the decade again folks. If anyone is interested in following the latest in Solar Powered Vehicle technology, then check this out -

Every second year, the main highway down the centre of Australia becomes a 3,000 km race track to test out some of the most advanced solar powered vehicles in the world. (And some of the more average ones as well!). This event is called the "World Solar Challenge", and it's on again this year, October 24 - 30.

There will also be various assorted biodiesel, hybrid, and alternative fuel vehicles running in a parallel demonstration event at the same time, (the "Eco Challenge"), but the real stars of the show are the solar powered cars in the World Solar Challenge.

Some of the solar cars have three wheels, some have four. Some are single seaters, some are dual. The lead solar cars do the approximate equivalent, in American terms, of going from the Canadian border to the Mexican border, in four days, daylight hours only, using roughly only the power of a hair dryer, generated solely from their own on-board solar arrays.

You can follow this event "live" online of course, during the actual event, (Oct. 24 - 30), via the daily feeds etc., at - http://www.wsc.org.au/

And it looks like the W.S.C. is in the process of being re-named the "Global Green Challenge", so if that link doesn't work, then try this one - http://globalgreenchallenge.com.au/ (But either way, you'll end up at the same website).

These machines are just mind blowing. Cars that run on nothing. I want one!

[Agent 47]

HERE ARE SOME SOLAR CARS FROM PREVIOUS EVENTS -

WSC_05_Tesseract_500.jpg (44.3 KiB) Viewed 30544 times

"Tesseract". (2005, USA - Massachusetts Institute of Technology). How cool do these cars look!

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"Kelly 62". (2007, Australia). This car is one of the few 4 wheeler, 2 seaters, so that slows it down a bit compared to the other cars. But it was built by the local technical/mechanical college here, using as many off the shelf parts as possible, as a prototype for an electric vehicle that could be sold to the public for use as a practical everyday car.

WSC_05_Nuna3_500.jpg (53.6 KiB) Viewed 30540 times

"Nuna 3". (2005, Netherlands). This car currently still holds the event record. Up until 2005 the cars were allowed to have 8 square metres of solar panels. But with improving technology, by 2005 these cars were capable of regularly breaking the posted speed limit of the public highway that the event runs on, using 8 square metres of solar panels. (Not allowed to go over the public highway speed limit under the event rules - therefore limited to 130 km/h in the northern state, 110 km/h in the southern state). So, since 2005, they've changed the rules to cut them all back to 6 square metres of solar panels to make it more of a challenge again.

The Dutch have now built "Nuna 5" for this years event. It's even lighter, and no doubt has even better solar cells. (They get the best solar cells from the European Space Agency = more power than anyone else). So it will be interesting to see how they do with only 6 square metres of solar panels this year.

[Agent 47]

I've finally found where they are hiding the BLOG for this event. I just assumed it would have been on the official WSC/GGC website, (see first post), but they've hidden it on a separate website to that!

It's worth having a look at the blog - you can follow the daily technical dramas of the support crews as they make their biennial dash across the desert in these futuristic machines.

I was reading it just before, and apparently the Dutch car "Nuna 5" had a high speed crash during testing recently, and they had to get some replacement solar panels in. But it's all systems go now.

And of course there's plenty of other general high tech electronic wizardry dramas all around to follow, and you can even follow things like some of the meals the crews are having as well!

See the event blog at - http://blog.globalgreenchallenge.com.au/

[Ray]

HERE ARE SOME SOLAR CARS FROM PREVIOUS EVENTS -

WSC_05_Tesseract_500.jpg

"Tesseract". (2005, USA - Massachusetts Institute of Technology). How cool do these cars look!

WSC_07_Kelly62_500.jpg

"Kelly 62". (2007, Australia). This car is one of the few 4 wheeler, 2 seaters, so that slows it down a bit compared to the other cars. But it was built by the local technical/mechanical college here, using as many off the shelf parts as possible, as a prototype for an electric vehicle that could be sold to the public for use as a practical everyday car.

WSC_05_Nuna3_500.jpg

"Nuna 3". (2005, Netherlands). This car currently still holds the event record. Up until 2005 the cars were allowed to have 8 square metres of solar panels. But with improving technology, by 2005 these cars were capable of regularly breaking the posted speed limit of the public highway that the event runs on, using 8 square metres of solar panels. (Not allowed to go over the public highway speed limit under the event rules - therefore limited to 130 km/h in the northern state, 110 km/h in the southern state). So, since 2005, they've changed the rules to cut them all back to 6 square metres of solar panels to make it more of a challenge again.

The Dutch have now built "Nuna 5" for this years event. It's even lighter, and no doubt has even better solar cells. (They get the best solar cells from the European Space Agency = more power than anyone else). So it will be interesting to see how they do with only 6 square metres of solar panels this year.

That's amazing! Six square meters. Looks like if this technology keeps improving, we won't need oil any more. Those arabs will have to go back to roaming the desert and riding camels to work!

[Earl]

We wouldn't have to do business with rather unpleasant regimes, and the terrorists would have to get another source for their funding.

[Agent 47]

Looks like if this technology keeps improving, we won't need oil any more.

We wouldn't have to do business with rather unpleasant regimes

Oh hell yeah. Solar powered cars make sense at so many levels.

And don't forget the whole thing about being able to breathe clean air that hasn't been poisoned with toxic exhaust fumes!

And then there's the old favorite "hip pocket nerve" factor as well - zero fuel cost to run these machines - ever!

These cars tick all the boxes. I seriously want one!

[blackdog4444]

When I become a transportation engineer, I'm so gonna win that...

[Fat Man]

A Solar Car Competition!

Now that is a "sport" I can endorse. A lot of new technologies will be the result.

Also, I wouldn't be so quick to put down NASCAR.

Yes, it's boring just watching a bunch of cars going around and around on an oval track.

But a lot of beneficial automotive technologies have been the result of NASCAR drivers experimenting with carburetor designs and more officiant engine designs. Unlike football, basketball, hockey or baseball, we have benefited from more efficient designs as a resut of experiments done in NASCAR.

Yes, it's boring to watch so I don't watch it, but it's not as bad as all the other sports.

But, I do think a Solar Car Competition would be an excellent "sport" and possibly the wave of the future.

VA-VA-VA-VVVVVOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!

No! Wait a a minute!

Solar cars are electric.

They go hmmmmmmm!

And you can just barely hear it, if at all.

[Agent 47]

When I become a transportation engineer, I'm so gonna win that...

You go grrrrl!!!

Maybe sportssuck.org could sponsor an entry?!! - Any rich bastards on here interested?!!!

VA-VA-VA-VVVVVOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!

No! Wait a a minute!

Solar cars are electric.

They go hmmmmmmm!

And you can just barely hear it, if at all.

You got that pretty well spot on Fat Man! I'm fortunate enough that I have been able to go up the highway a bit, and see them go past at full highway speed in previous years. A conventional car at full highway speed goes past with the roar of an engine, followed by a rush of wind, and a trail of dust and debris that gets stirred up.

But these things are eerily quiet in comparison. Yes there is a sort of electric whir, and a bit of tyre-on road rumble, but that's about it. Although some of the more primitive entries can sound like skateboards, or bicycles that need their chains oiling!

And of course they don't stir up any wind or debris - they're designed to slip through the air as efficiently as possible. The only trouble with that is though, that they present such a small front-on cross-section, that they're bloody hard to see coming down the road when you're trying to take a photo of them! You've really got to pay attention and be quick!

And hey Fat Man, did you see there's a commercially available plug-in electric vehicle called a "Tesla" running in this event? (I see you're a fan of the great Nikola Tesla).




Anyway, as I write this, the first full day of racing has been completed. And now that the actual race is on, I see that they have added a new section to the official WSC/GGC website - the "The Live Event" section. This new section has links to the new publicly accessible Photo Gallery, Video Gallery, Real Time Progress Map, and the "Daily WSC Results". I checked it out just before, and there's some new photos from today on there already, but no videos yet! But there's still 5 days left to go, so more photos and videos will get added each day. Just keep checking. See the new "The Live Event" section at - http://globalgreenchallenge.com.au/the-event

[Fat Man]

. . . . . And hey Fat Man, did you see there's a commercially available plug-in electric vehicle called a "Tesla" running in this event? (I see you're a fan of the great Nikola Tesla).

Yes, I have seen the Tesla.


2010 Tesla Roadster

I believe that if Nikola Tesla were still living today he would be proud having a car named ofter him.

[blackdog4444]

How I so wish I had a billion dollars right now... I'd get that freakin awesome car!
... that's if I can't make a better looking one once I'm done with college.

[Agent 47]

EVENT CONCLUSION: So now that the event is over, they've finally uploaded some more photos and videos to the WSC/GGC website.

This is the first year I've followed it online myself, and I must admit I was a bit disappointed that there weren't more daily photo and video uploads to see during the actual event itself. They said there would be "vision posted daily on the event web site", but it looks like the support crews were just too busy to do any uploading during the actual event. I suppose that makes sense though really.

But anyway, now that the event is over, there's tons of photos and videos there on the website to view! There's currently 28 pages of photos, and 11 individual videos, (10 in the video gallery, plus 1 on the main home page), all available to download too, if you're interested.

And as with anything on the internet, who knows how long they will be available for, so get in and grab them while they're all there, and all free!

Save the photos in the usual ways - save individual images, or save whole web pages.

But to download and save the videos, you can get some free software for downloading "flash" (".flv") videos here, at - "Moyea YouTube FLV Downloader" - (this software can also be used to download Flash videos from YouTube, MySpace etc. as well) - http://www.moyea.com/flv-downloader

So get it while it's all freely available! - DOWNLOAD! DOWNLOAD! DOWNLOAD!

WSC/GGC Photo Gallery - http://photos.globalgreenchallenge.com.au/

WSC/GGC Video Gallery - http://globalgreenchallenge.com.au/ggc/?p=video

[Agent 47]

... that's if I can't make a better looking one once I'm done with college.

Hey Blackdog, if you're seriously interested in getting involved in this technology, then why wait until you're DONE with college?!!

If you could get your school/college interested and involved, then they would BANKROLL the whole project for you! Most of these cars come out of a school/college/university. GRAB SOME OF THAT EDUCATION SYSTEM FUNDING WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!

There's an American version of this event called the "American Solar Challenge". (ASC). The next one is scheduled for June 2010.

http://americansolarchallenge.org/

Involvement with this technology would be absolute GOLD on a C.V. Perhaps getting your Science Department interested might be a way to get things started?

There's an all girls high school that are regular entrants to the WSC. Perhaps they could give you some tips on how to get things started at an official level? Drop them an e-mail and see what they say! (Annesley College - http://www.annesley.sa.edu.au/co-curric/solar.htm ).

The last couple of entries from the Annesley College girls have been to take a standard small car, and either just add an electric motor to it to make it a simple hybrid, or rip the whole engine and transmission out and go fully solar/electric. But in the past, they used to build pure solar cars from the ground up.

Here are some of their previous creations. These chicks rock.

WSC_2007_AnnesleyCollege_500.jpg (121.02 KiB) Viewed 30402 times

2007

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2003

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1999

[Agent 47]

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1993

[Agent 47]

A Solar Car Competition!....A lot of new technologies will be the result.

Yeah, the most direct technology to come out of solar car racing has been the development of the "WHEEL MOTOR". (Or sometimes called a "HUB MOTOR").

These cars run on such a small amount of power, (approx 1,000 to 2,000 Watts), that they need every bit of efficiency gain they can get.

So instead of having an electric motor, and then some sort of drive mechanism - e.g. chain etc. - to the wheels, they can eliminate any drive mechanism power and weight losses altogether, by doing away with a drive mechanism completely, and building the car's electric motor right into the drive wheel itself.

The wheel is the motor! The motor is the wheel! A WHEEL MOTOR! Brilliant!

WSC_2003_Wheel(Hub)Motor_200_05_500.jpg (211.18 KiB) Viewed 30387 times

98.4% EFFICIENCY!!!