An engineering team at Australia's University of New South Wales (UNSW) has created a new car that runs on solar power, setting a new record in the field of alternative energy. The Sunswift 7, an electric car driven by solar energy, averaged approximately 85 km/h over the course of 12 hours, securing the unofficial title of "fastest electric vehicle over 1000 kilometers on a single charge."
The Guinness Book of World Records has not yet given the milestone official recognition, but after the timing and other performance statistics are examined by professionals, a certificate will be awarded.
At the Australian Automotive Research Centre in Wensleydale, Victoria, the car-designed and constructed by students working in UNSW's Sunswift program-posted a time of 11 hours, 53 minutes, and 32 seconds for the 1,000-kilometer route.
Sunswift team principal, Professor of Practice Richard Hopkins, is immensely proud of everything the students have achieved just to get the car out onto the track.
Members of the student team from UNSW Sydney who built the Swift 7 solar car.
"This is the result of the hard work of 50 undergraduate students who are dedicated, focused, and talented," he said.
"They were given the freedom to create. The criteria were simply: build a car that has solar power and a battery. I had very little influence over what they chose to do within that; I just wanted them to make the best engineering decisions."
Sunswift Team Manager Andrea Holden, who is a Mechanical Engineering student at UNSW Sydney, said that "it feels very weird to think that we've helped make something that's the best in the entire world. Two years ago, when we started to build this car, everything was going into lockdown, and there were a lot of difficult moments."
