2011 World Solar Challenge (Oct 16-23)

[Agent 47]

2011_WSC_OndaSolare_Emilia2.jpg (3.74 KiB) Viewed 764 times

The "World Solar Challenge" is a 3,021 km (1,877 mile) race for cars that run on only whatever power they can generate from six square metres of their own on-board solar panels. That works out to only around 1,500 Watts of power available for them to use - that's only about the same amount of power as a toaster.


Here is a blurb from the official Event Program -

Event Overview

In 1982, solar pioneer Hans Tholstrup embarked on a quest that would see him drive a home-built solar car the "Quiet Achiever" across Australia from west to east. Inspired by this achievement and his own pioneering vision he urged others to explore the boundaries of sun-powered transport and so the World Solar Challenge was born.

Inaugurated in 1987, the World Solar Challenge continues to showcase the development of advanced automotive technology and promote alternatives to conventional vehicle engines.

Today, while solarcars test the ultimate boundaries of energy efficiency, they also provide incredible insights into the capabilities of everyday vehicle technology. These innovations are at the heart of all electric cars, whether that power comes from hydrogen fuel cells, hybrid engines or even fully-electric commuter cars that draw power from solar cells on the garage roof â?? they all use the technology that is continually honed to perfection in the World Solar Challenge.

Utilising no more than six square metres of solar panels, some of the worldâ??s brightest young minds are on track to develop the most efficient electric vehicles possible. And every two years, teams from leading international universities and technical institutes, together with private entrepreneurs, come together Down Under to test and promote the ultimate synergy of nature, motion and innovation.

The World Solar Challenge event for solarcars is run under the established regulations of the International Solarcar Federation.

The pioneering journey mentioned in that article there ran from west to east, but most of these solar car events tend to run north/south.

2011_WSC_MapOfWorld.jpg (40.06 KiB) Viewed 764 times

Here are some useful links -



Event Homepage -
http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/


List Of Participants -
http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/abou ... ered_teams


Participant Details -
http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/abou ... _the_teams


Solar Car Technical Regulations -
http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/file ... ations.pdf


Event Program -
http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/file ... ram_lr.pdf

2011_WSC_AuroraVehicleAssociation_AuroraSolaris.jpg (23.09 KiB) Viewed 764 times

[Agent 47]

Day 3 Update -

This event is a little over half way now, and there has been some dramas in the last 24 hours - there was a bushfire that temporarily suspended the event for several hours, and separately from that, the car from the Philippines spontaneously combusted...

http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/the_challenge_is_on

MEDIA UPDATE
Tuesday 18 October, 2011
5pm Darwin Time â?? provisional end of day results

TOKAI FIRST TEAM ACROSS THE BORDER AS PHILIPPINE CAR GOES UP IN FLAMES

As unofficial day 3 leader Team Tokai charged across the South Australian border, Team Philippines were left mouldering in Tennant Creek. As the team made repairs to their vehicle, Sikat II, the battery exploded and flames engulfed the solar car. No one was in the car at the time and no one was injured in the incident. But the damage is hopefully not terminal and the team will be pulling out all the stops to get their car back on the road using spare batteries so they can continue their journey to Adelaide.

Unaware of the dramas further back on the road, team Tokai are preparing to spend their first night in South Australia in Marryat Creek, 1,825 kilometres (1,134 miles) south of Darwin, having passed through Kulgera Control stop at 4.32 pm. Team Nuon from the Netherlands and Michigan University are in 2nd and 3rd place respectively and will leave Kulgera Control Stop tomorrow morning.

Approximately 200 kilometres (124 miles) back there is a tussle for 4th, 5th and 6th place with the order changing several times during the afternoon. Just minutes are separating Ashiya from Japan (4th), Australiaâ??s Aurora (5th) and Twente (6th) from the Netherlands.

Team Uni NSW is in 7th position approximately 100 kilometres (63 miles) south of Alice Springs and Umicore from Belgium in 8th position is just south of Alice Springs. Istanbul University is in 9th position and Stanford team USA in 10th.

Back in the field, all teams have now reached Tennant Creek or beyond.

We look forward to further excitement on the Stuart Highway tomorrow.



http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/file ... rminal.pdf

According to the "Provisional end of day results" in the PDF as mentioned above, here are some of the technical details of the current top 10 lead cars -




Currently 1st place -

Tokai University
Country: Japan
Car Name: Tokai Challenger 2
Class: Challenge Competition Class
Cells: Single Crystalline Silicon
Battery: Lithium ion 18650
Motor: Brushless DC Direct Drive Motor
Cruising Speed: 90 km/h (56 mph)
Max Speed: 160 km/h (99 mph)
Offical Website: http://deka.challe.u-tokai.ac.jp/lp/



Currently 2nd place -

Nuon Solar Team
Country: The Netherlands
Car Name: Nuna 6
Cells: Silicon
Battery: Panasonic Lithuim Ion
Motor: CSIRO
Cruising Speed: 95 km/h (59 mph)
Max Speed: 145 km/h (90 mph)
Offical Website: http://www.nuonsolarteam.nl



Currently 3rd place -

University of Michigan
Country: United States
Car Name: Quantum
Class: Challenge
Cells: Sunpower
Battery: Lithium ion battery cells
Motor: CSIRO
Offical Website: http://www.umsolar.com/



Currently 4th place -

Ashiya University Solar Car Project
Country: Japan
Car Name: Ashiya Sky Ace V
Cells: Single Crystalline Silicon (Sunpower : C50)
Battery: Lithium ion polymer
Motor: Brushless DC In-wheel Direct Drive
Cruising Speed: 80 km/h (50 mph)
Max Speed: 100 km/h (62 mph)
Offical Website: http://www.ashiya-u.ac.jp/solarcar/



Currently 5th place -

Aurora Vehicle Association
Country: Australia
Car Name: Aurora Evolution
Class: Challenge Class
Cells: Sunpower silicon solar cells
Battery: Saehan Enertech lithium-polymer batteries
Motor: CSIRO/Marand in-wheel electric motor
Cruising Speed: > 90 km/h (56 mph)
Max Speed: > 150 km/h (93 mph)
Offical Website: http://www.aurorasolarcar.com



Currently 6th place -

Solar Team Twente
Country: Netherlands
Car Name: 21Connect
Cells: SunPower Mono-crystalline Silicon
Battery: Panasonic Lithuim Ion
Motor: Marand front wheel 3-phase engine
Cruising Speed: 80 - 110 km/h (50 - 68 mph)
Max Speed: 140 km/h (87 mph)
Offical Website: http://www.solarteam.nl/



Currently 7th place -

UNSW Solar Team
Country: Australia
Car Name: Sunswift
Class: Challenge
Cells: Sunpower A300 silicon solar cells, 1300 W rated ou
Battery: Panasonic NCR18650A, Lithium Ion cells, 5kWh capac
Motor: CSIRO Brushless DC In-wheel Motor with custom casi
Cruising Speed: 90 km/h (56 mph)
Max Speed: 105 km/h (65 mph)
Offical Website: http://www.sunswift.com/



Currently 8h place -

Umicore solar Team
Country: Belgium
Car Name: Umicar Imagine
Cells: Germanium concentrator cells
Battery: Lithium Polymer
Motor: In-wheel axial flux permanent magnet motor with ha
Cruising Speed: 90 km/h (56 mph)
Max Speed: 120 km/h (75 mph)
Offical Website: http://www.solarteam.be



Currently 9th place -

SOCRAT - Istanbul University
Country: Turkey
Car Name: ASTAY
Cells: Silicon
Battery: Lithium Polymer
Motor: Brushless DC Motor
Offical Website: http://www.socrat.net



Currently 10th place -

Stanford Solar Car Project
Country: United States of America
Car Name: Xenith
Cells: Sunpower
Battery: Li-ion 18650
Motor: Coreless axial flux brushless motor
Cruising Speed: 85 km/h (53 mph)
Max Speed: Unknown
Offical Website: http://solarcar.stanford.edu







And you can view a live map of the locations of the cars on the road -

Here are the top 3 positions for Day 3...


Live Map -
http://dashboard.worldsolarchallenge.org/all-teams

2011_WSC_Day_3_Map.jpg (115.69 KiB) Viewed 732 times

[Agent 47]

Day 4 Update -

Here are the positions of all of the cars at the end of Day 4...

http://dashboard.worldsolarchallenge.org/all-teams

2011_WSC_Day_4_Map.jpg (65.43 KiB) Viewed 709 times

[Agent 47]

So this event is over now of course, and they finally got around to publishing the final results on the website, including the average speeds.

I like seeing what the average speeds are for a long-distance event like this, because I think that the average speed is a good indicator of the realistic on-road performance that these machines are capable of.

Here are the average speeds, and some extra fact sheet info, for the final top three place-getters...





Final result

1st place

"Tokai Challenger 2" (Japan) - average speed - 91.54 km/h (56.88 mph)

2011_WSC_TokaiChallenger2_(Japan).jpg (72.04 KiB) Viewed 625 times

Weight (without driver): 140 kg
Number of wheels: 3
Battery chemistry: lithium-ion
Solar cell type: Panasonic HIT silicon
Size (L x W x H): 5,0 x 1,6 x 0,9 m
Wheel base: 2,1 m
Battery weight: 21 kg
Solar cell efficiency: 22%
Solar panel size: 6 m²
Wheel geometry: 2 front, 1 rear
Battery energy capacity: 5 kWh
Top speed: 160 km/h (99.4 mph)
Construction materials: carbon
Number of occupants: 1
Tyre type: Michelin Radial 95/80 R16
Construction type: monocoque
Brakes: Hydraulic disc & regenerative brake
Motor type: direct-drive brushless DC

http://www.solarwebsite.nl/temp/WSC2011 ... ersity.htm





Final result

2nd place

"Nuna 6" (Netherlands) - average speed - 88.6 km/h (55.1 mph)

2011_WSC_Nuna6_(Netherlands).jpg (49.59 KiB) Viewed 625 times

Weight (without driver): 145kg
Number of wheels: 3
Battery chemistry: lithium-ion
Solar cell type: monocrystalline silicon
Size (L x W x H): 4,44 x 1,75 x 0,94m
Battery weight: 21 kg
Solar cell efficiency: 22%
Solar panel size: 6m²
Wheel geometry: 2 front, 1 rear
Battery energy capacity: 5kWh
Solar cell number: 1690
Top speed: 160 km/h (99.4 mph)
Rolling resistance: 1/10th of normal car
Motor power: 4,5 kW
Construction materials: carbon, foam
Number of occupants: 1
Tyre type: Michelin solar
Construction type: monocoque
Air resistance: 1/12th of normal car
Motor type: in-wheel

http://solarwebsite.nl/temp/WSC2011/Sol ... arTeam.htm





Final result

3rd place

"Quantum" (USA) - average speed - 84.33 km/h (52.4 mph)

2011_WSC_Quantum_(USA).jpg (85.93 KiB) Viewed 625 times

Weight (without driver): 145kg
Number of wheels: 3
Battery chemistry: Lithium-ion
Solar cell type: Silicon
Size (L x W x H): 4,9 x 1,5 x 1.1 m
Solar panel size: 6 m²
Wheel geometry: 2 front, 1 rear
Top speed: 169 km/h (105 mph)
Motor power: 9,2kW
Construction materials: Carbon
Number of occupants: 1
Construction type: Monocoque
Motor type: in-wheel

http://www.solarwebsite.nl/temp/WSC2011 ... larcar.htm

[Agent 47]

Just to put those figures for the average speeds into context, and to see how this technology is improving over time, you can see a list of average speeds for all of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place-getters since this event began in 1987, here...

http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/abou ... _of_honour

...or here are those figures in graph form. Both of these graphs are the same, only one is in kilometres, and the other one is in miles...

2011_WSC_Average_Speed_Graph_KPH.jpg (45.25 KiB) Viewed 571 times

2011_WSC_Average_Speed_Graph_MPH.jpg (46.43 KiB) Viewed 571 times

The general trend is that this technology is slowly improving all the time, but as you can see, there are 3 main events where the average speeds went down a bit - 1999, 2007, and this year, 2011.

For both this year, and in 2007, the drop in average speeds can be explained by changes to the rules of the cars, which in each case intentionally reduced the power generating capacity of the cars, to make it a better race.

But I'm not sure why the 1999 figures went down so much though. It might have been just very cloudy weather that year or something. I don't know.

But the drop in 2007 was because that was the first year that the cars were cut back from 8 square metres of solar panels to 6 square metres. So that was a 25% reduction in power right there. They did that because a lot of the cars were sitting on the speed limit of the public roads that the event runs on, so they reduced the power of them to make it more of a challenge again.

And the drop in average speed THIS year was because they introduced a restriction to the TYPE of solar cells allowed.

Previously, ANY type of solar cells have been allowed, and because some of the teams had access to the much more expensive, high efficiency (30%), satellite grade, triple junction Gallium-Arsenide solar cells, and some didn't, that was giving an unfair advantage to some of the teams.

But as of the new rules this year, the cars are limited to only Silicon cells (22% efficiency) if they want to use their full allocation of 6 square metres, otherwise, they could use the higher efficiency cells if they wanted to, but then they are restricted to only 3 square metres of cells.

So most entries this year went with the 6 square metres of Silicon cells, resulting in less power and lower speeds this year, but it made for more of an even contest for everyone.

But the general trend is that this technology continues to improve over time.

There was a German entry that went with the 3 square metres of Gallium-Arsenide cells this year though. It's from Bochum University, and the car is called the "Bo GT." It finished 26th out of 37, and it's one of the few four-wheeler, two-seaters...

2011_WSC_Bo_GT_(Germany).jpg (81.9 KiB) Viewed 571 times

Number of wheels: 4
Battery chemistry: Lithium-ion
Solar cell type: Gallium-Arsenide
Size (L x W x H): 410 x 160 x 134 cm
Wheel base: 251 cm
Battery weight: 21 kg
Solar cell efficiency: 29,2%
Solar panel size: 3 m²
Wheel geometry: 2 front, 2 rear
Battery energy capacity: 4,9 kWh
Solar cell number: 935
Top speed: > 100 km/h (62.14 mph)
Motor power: 1,4 / 4,2 kW
Construction materials: Fibre sandwich
Number of occupants: 2
Tyre type: Schalbe Energizer S
Construction type: Monocoque
Air resistance: 0,14-0,16 Cw
Brakes: Birel CX-12
Motor type: Hochschule Bochum

http://www.solarwebsite.nl/temp/WSC2011 ... Bochum.htm