World Solar Challenge Underway 11
snowdon writes "The World Solar Challenge started today, and the top teams are now camped in the Australian outback more than 600km south of Darwin. You can follow the event live in real-time using satellite tracking at worldsolarchallenge.org."
easier way to track (Score:1, Flamebait)
I'm over at https://www.nsa.4q2/ [www.nsa.4q2] and they've got all the info, with cool tracking overlays, too!
The Classes (Score:4, Informative)
There are three classes:
Challenger: This is the main race.
Cruiser: Sort of road worthy cars, judged on practicality as well as the race placement.
Adventure: Last year's Challenger Class, just to let people compete with prior cars.
Re: (Score:2)
Cruiser: Sort of road worthy cars, judged on practicality as well as the race placement.
This is the class that interests me. Sure, they're still a long way from being something that anyone could use as a day-to-day vehicle, but they're moving closer to that goal. A goal that is unlikely to ever be fully achieved, but what we learn from making mostly-impractical pure solar cars will eventually help us to build usable electrics which are light enough and efficient enough that they can be usefully powered in part by integral solar panels -- and which will require very little grid power and need m
Re: Solar plus stored energy (Score:1)
Many people are concerned about the range of an electric car. Currently the Tesla S has a range of 480km. If you can use solar panels to add 50% to that range, then it is 720km. That is some serious distance.
Our second car rarely travels more than 10km from home, so personally I'd be happy with a range of 100km and a price of under $30,000.
Re: (Score:2)
Many people are concerned about the range of an electric car. Currently the Tesla S has a range of 480km. If you can use solar panels to add 50% to that range, then it is 720km. That is some serious distance.
I don't think that much range extension is likely. What I think may be achievable, though, is to make it possible to commute a 100 km round trip on small batteries that only hold enough charge for 70 km, without access to charging facilities at work. Being able to recover a significant part of your charge just by parking the car outdoors is valuable.
Our second car rarely travels more than 10km from home, so personally I'd be happy with a range of 100km and a price of under $30,000.
You should take a look at the Nissan LEAF. I have one (2012), and I really like it. The price of the low-end model is under $30K. Given how fast technology is c
Re: (Score:3)
That's not fiction. I spent the last year going around the Sun.