Car of the future feeds energy into grid
A FUTURISTIC Dutch family car that not only uses the sun as power but also supplies energy back to the grid was hailed as the future as the World Solar Challenge wrapped up yesterday.
The innovative bi-annual contest, first run in 1987, began in Darwin a week ago with 41 vehicles setting off on a 3 000km trip through the heart of Australia to Adelaide.
Dutch car Nuna 9 won the race for the third straight time, crossing the finish line on Thursday after travelling at an average speed of 81.2km/h.
It was competing in the challenger class, which featured slick, single seat aerodynamic vehicles built for sustained endurance and total energy efficiency.
But there was also a cruiser class, introduced to bridge the gap between high-end technology and everyday driving practicality.
German team HS Bochum was the first to arrive on Friday, with its stylish fourseater classic coupe featuring sustainable materials such as vegan pineapple leather seats.
Another Dutch team, Eindhoven, was crowned overall champion based on a system taking into account design, practicality, energy efficiency and innovation.
Their family car, Stella Vie, carried five people at an average speed of 69km/h with event director Chris Selwood saying it was a practical demonstration of what the future might look. “These incredible solar cars have been designed with the commercial market in mind and have all the features you’d expect in a family, luxury or sporting car,” he said.
“Team Eindhoven are to be congratulated on their achievement -- clearly the most energy efficient solar car in the field, capable of generating more power than they consume.
“This is the future of solar electric vehicles. When your car is parked at home it can be charging and supplying energy back to the grid.”
Cars in the race were mostly developed by universities or corporations, with teams hailing from around the world.
They were allowed to store a small amount of energy but the majority of their power had to come from the sun and the vehicle’s kinetic forces.
Team Eindhoven said its vision had been to build a family car with a balance between aerodynamic, aesthetic and practical design.
“We think we succeeded with a car that is efficient and includes some state-of-theart technology, not only generating energy but also supplying it back to the grid,” they said. – AFP