100 MPH On Solar Power
How do you make a solar-powered car go 100 MPH? First, make it light. Second, give it a powerful electric motor. And third, find an open road. That is the strategy, albeit, greatly simplified, of the Wrexham University, Wales, UK, solar car NOSGrawrII. The car weighs a mere 465 pounds, which is about on par with a middle-sized motorcycle, and is powered by a 35 kW electric motor, which is equal to about 47 horsepower. That may not seem like a lot of horses, but that gives a power-to-weight ratio of 9.89 pounds for every horsepower. For comparison, a 2009 Porsche Boxster sports car has a ratio of 9.83 pounds for every horsepower.
The Wrexham University solar team, headed by Professor Graham Sparey-Taylor, is currently looking for financing to ship the car across the Atlantic ocean so that it can compete in next year’s North American Solar Challenge, a 2,400 mile race from Dallas, Texas, all the way up to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The car uses a light-weight lead acid battery that gets its charge from the solar panels which cover the upper body.
