The Fastest Solar on Wheels

Hi:

Neat looking experimental cars.... Just a small question...
1100 miles divided by 40 MPH is 27.5 hours + 15 min fix time = 27 hours and 45 minutes. But yet, it also says it took them 6 days which = 144 hours. 144 - 27.75 = 116.25 hours unaccounted for ..??... Even 6 days of daylight time,(10 hrs/day) this time of year = 60 hours of sun time..??..
I must be missing something....
If in fact it took them 6 days, then their avg trip speed was 7.64 MPH...

.....Bill

Hi
This game is interesting and funny. but currently the high cost of producing especial solar panel for race cars is still need to be resolved.
Hope more common people could owning solar cars years later.

Nanjing Cessgene Group Limited
Rick Kim
www.cessgene.com
sales@cessgene.com

Bill,
I'm pretty sure the race was in stages, like the Tour de France. It took them a certain amount of time to get from one city to the next each day and then they added up the total time for each stage.

There was an article in the ECONOMIST on the evolution of electric planes that were solar powered. As with most inventions, there are several competitors who have prototypes that are now flying. At the conclusion of the article, after a lengthy discussion of the numerous technical obstacles, the author said one really appreciates the energy packed into a gallon of aviation fuel.......I watched Dartmouth engineering students build a winning car a few years ago; I guess they didn't enter this competition. KUDOS to all who entered!

It's great to see young people taking up the solar vehicle challenge. 26 years ago, Greg Johanson and I established the Guinness World Record for solar only vehicles. See http://www.solarsolar.com/suncar.html We built our vehicle for less than $15,000 and encouraged people to beat our solar only record. No one would race us, not even the solar airplane. So in 1986 we sold the vehicle's solar array which is still being used to power a home. Today, solar vehicle racing has become a rich man's sport. I challenge race organizers to set a vehicle price limit and each year reduce how much can be spent to encourage brains over bucks.

Note-solar racing shows how much solar has improved and how efficient a light electric vehicle is. It's not meant to show we will drive solar cars someday. I have GRID tied solar on my home and it runs our home and makes extra I put into my plugin prius. We drive 30+ all electric miles each day with NO GAS.

There are high school compitions that are very good with amazing vehicles. Check out the dell-winston solar challenge.
http://www.winstonsolar.org/challenge/