Students at Western Sydney University have built a spaceship-looking car, ready to take on an upcoming 3000-kilometre race through Australia’s dessert-filled centre. The kicker? It only uses as much electricity as a household kettle.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2017/10/the-world-solar-challenge-a-hardcore-desert-race-powered-by-the-sun/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/world-solar-challenge-2-410×231.jpg” title=”Bridgestone’s World Solar Challenge: A Hardcore Desert Race Powered By The Sun” excerpt=”In just a few days, teams from around the globe will be fanging their way across the Australian desert. Their mission: to harness the power of the sun for honour, glory and sustainability. Welcome to Bridgestone’s World Solar Challenge.”]
Western Sydney University’s 22-person Solar Car Team have spent the past 12 months designing, building and promoting their entrance, UNLIMITED 3.0, in the upcoming 2019 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.
Built with a custom carbon fibre shell and bespoke battery pack, Max Mammone, the team’s manager, said “it’s optimised with highly efficient solar cells… using the same amount of energy as a household kettle.”
The 2019 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge pits university and high school teams from more than 30 countries against each other in a 3000-kilometre, five-day race from Darwin to Adelaide.
It’s the fourth time WSU’s Solar Car Team will be entering the Challenger Class, which requires teams to produce a single-seat solar car designed to be the fastest. Four students from the team will take turns driving the UNLIMITED 3.0 across Australia’s outback on nine-hour runs over the course of five days in October.
The 2019 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge will run between 13 and 20 October and starts in Darwin and finishes in Adelaide’s Victoria Square.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2015/09/a-uws-graduate-was-poached-by-tesla-motors-after-building-a-car-for-the-world-solar-challenge/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/tesla_model_s_2015-410×231.jpg” title=”A UWS Graduate Was Poached By Tesla Motors After Building A Car For The World Solar Challenge” excerpt=”The cool little side projects you take on at university can lead to big things. One of the members of Gizmodo’s 2013 World Solar Challenge partnership with Western Sydney University has moved to San Francisco to work with Tesla on a secretive engineering project.”]