An Australian student-built solar-powered vehicle set a record by traveling 1000 kilometers (620 miles) on a single charge in less than 12 hours.
A new solar-powered vehicle was developed by an engineering team at Australia’s University of New South Wales (UNSW), breaking previous records in the alternative energy sector. Across the course of 12 hours, the Sunswift 7, an electric vehicle powered by solar energy, averaged about 85 km/h, earning it the unofficial distinction of “fastest electric vehicle over 1000 kilometers on a single charge.”
Although the achievement has not yet received official recognition from the Guinness Book of World Records, a certificate will be provided once experts have reviewed the time and other performance data.
The car, which was conceived and built by students in UNSW’s Sunswift program, reported a time of 11 hours, 53 minutes, and 32 seconds over the 1,000-kilometer route at the Australian Automotive Research Centre in Wensleydale, Victoria.
Richard Hopkins, the professor of practice who oversees the Sunswift team, is incredibly happy with what the students have accomplished, even just to get the car onto the track.
He claimed that 50 talented, committed, and hardworking undergraduate students were responsible for the accomplishment.
“They were permitted complete creative license. Building an automobile that uses solar electricity and a battery was the only requirement. I had very little control over their actions inside that; all I wanted was for them to make the best engineering choices.”
Andrea Holden, the Sunswift Team Manager and a Mechanical Engineering student at UNSW Sydney, remarked “The idea that we contributed to creating something that is the best in the entire world feels quite strange. When we first began to construct this car two years ago, everything was on lockdown, and there were many challenging times.”
