Sunstang Changing the Solar-Powered Paradigm

[chibougamoo]

Solar, Trike

Green Car Congress - GREENCARCONGRESS - 21 Mar 10

Kids today! Too d!@# smart for our own good. Turn your back on em and they are doing 300 MPG.. --Ed.

After 17 years of building solar cars to enter into competitions—the World Solar Challenge and the American Solar Challenge—the Sunstang solar team at The University of Western Ontario is shifting its focus to developing a near production-ready commuter vehicle.

This next-generation Sunstang is based on the team’s re-evaluation of the solar-powered vehicle paradigm. Rather than trying to use solar cells to provide power directly to the vehicle, the new Sunstang will use a removable battery system which will be recharged by a residential solar charging stations. One battery pack will remain on the charging station, while the other is in the car.

The issue with the competitions is that the difference between our car, which was basically the lowest budget possible, to the cars that were winning is the solar panels and that’s it.

—Geoff Gauthier, project manager for the Sunstang
... [Read More]

[xcel]

Hi Chibougamoo:

___Even at 100%, there is just not enough sun falling on the surface of a regular car (1,700 to 2,000 W on the Solar Racers) to run a 1,000W curling iron let alone power a standard car down the road

___Good Luck

___Wayne