Students at the University of New South Wales hold the Guinness World Record for fastest Solar Powered Electric Vehicle. They set the record in 2011 with a car that hit a top speed of 55mph. Now they have their sights set on another record to smash.
On July 23rd the Sunswift Student Team is looking to unleash the newest version of the eVe electric car, and they’re hoping to break the record for fastest average speed over a 500km distance, which currently sits at 73km per hour (around 45mph). They’re being coy by how much, but they’re confident they can break that record by a “comfortable” margin.
The car is already an incredible achievement in terms of efficiency, as at freeway speeds the motor only uses about as much juice as a four slice toaster.
Of course we’re a ways off from that kind of consumer grade performance as the eVe has zero amenities and wont conform to any crash test standards, but it’s an important research step towards making EV’s more viable solutions. When the eVe is driven solely off of its battery it has a 300 mile range, but that distance is boosted to 500 miles when augmented by on-board solar panels.
Makes you wonder why the trunk, hood, and roof of all current EV’s aren’t covered in solar too…
The Sunswift team have a promo video for their Land Speed record breaking run, or you can find more info on the team on the Sunswift Website.