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Title: Student Solar Car Team Shows the Future is Powered by Sunshine
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URL Source: http://iq.intel.com/student-solar-c ... shows-future-powered-sunshine/
Published: Mar 27, 2016
Author: Deb Miller Landau, iQ Contributor and iQ
Post Date: 2016-03-27 11:03:52 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 532
Comments: 15
Battling extreme heat, kangaroo roadkill and a constant threat of clouds, the University of Michigan Solar Car crew shows how teamwork and technology can produce an engineering feat. For almost five long, sizzling days, an all-star team of 17 University of Michigan students took to the Australian outback, racing a car that guzzles little more than ingenuity and sunshine. The race is the Bridgestone World Solar Car Challenge, a biennial event since 1987 where energy-efficient cars from around the world race almost 1,900 miles to push the limits of solar car innovation. It’s the World Cup of solar car racing, and University of Michigan is a tier-one team. In 2015, the team finished 4th out of 42 teams from 20 counties. “It is a thrill to participate in such a big race with engineers from all over the world,” said Pavan Naik, an industrial and operations engineering student at the University of Michigan. Naik is the team’s manager, handling things like budget, staffing, supplies and logistics for shipping the solar car to Australia. His team’s car, named Aurum, finished behind teams from the Netherlands and Japan, but there was a lot to celebrate. “We built a car that’s faster than any other University of Michigan team,” he said, and the results bodes well for the future of both solar car racing and the advancement of energy-efficient vehicle research. “The innovations that we’re creating through building and racing solar cars are pushing the current boundaries of solar technology, but also overall vehicle efficiency,” said Naik. “The automobile of the future, I think, will look and behave very differently from what we are used to today.”
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#1. To: Ada, Lod (#0)
Show me the solar car that can pull a trailer full of cattle from the farm to auction...... “The automobile of the future, I think, will look and behave very differently from what we are used to today.”
-Alex Kurtagic
#2. To: X-15, Ada (#1)
I noticed that none of the support vehicles were solar. Solar has great promise for the future, but I don't know that I'll live to see or drive it.
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
#3. To: X-15 (#1)
I don't think they are that far along with solar. At best you can drive a little car around to the store to pick up groceries and maybe drive the kids to a movie. ;) Show me the solar car that can pull a trailer full of cattle from the farm to auction......
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
#4. To: Lod (#2)
Would you want to be in any conceivable variation of a solar car (so far) that gets in a collision with a farm truck or any other utility vehicle?? Not me......
-Alex Kurtagic
#5. To: Lod (#2)
One problem is that the cars cannot be driven at night and only barely when there is cloud cover.
#6. To: BTP Holdings (#3)
And only in daylight. Tesla will have to come up with a battery for them.
#7. To: Ada, X-15, BTP (#5)
As with EVs, they still have to solve the energy storage (battery) problem before they're ever truly useful for most of us. I'm pulling for the hydrogen fueled vehicles to make a break through.
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
#8. To: Lod (#7)
I'm pulling for the hydrogen fueled vehicles to make a break through. That is why Musk is working on Lithium batteries for power. The only problem here is that there is only 350 tons of Lithium in the national stockpile. Remember the dangers of Hydrogen being its explosives qualities. ;) As with EVs, they still have to solve the energy storage (battery) problem before they're ever truly useful for most of us.
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
#9. To: BTP Holdings (#8)
Any fuel that expands rapidly enough to drive a piston has explosive properties; it's just a matter of containing and controlling it.
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
#10. To: Lod (#9)
True enough. It is all a matter of storage of the hydrogen. ;) Any fuel that expands rapidly enough to drive a piston has explosive properties; it's just a matter of containing and controlling it.
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
#11. To: BTP Holdings (#10)
If we can send spacecraft to the stars, surely we can get a car down the road efficiently.
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
#12. To: Lod (#11)
It's too bad these cars do not run on Dilithium crystals. Then we would have hyperspace all wrapped up. ;) If we can send spacecraft to the stars, surely we can get a car down the road efficiently.
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
#13. To: BTP Holdings (#10)
Japan and Korea are working on it 24/7. Japan is going to make the 2020 Olympics all about hydrogen. For whatever reason the US media is ignoring the hydrogen revolution going on in Europe and Asia. Toshiba just opened a Hydrogen R&D facility in Tokyo Toshiba completes solar-powered hydrogen production/storage system at hotel The H2One is a CO2-free stand-alone hydrogen energy supply system that is based on Toshiba’s unique hydrogen EMS (energy management system) and uses renewable energy and hydrogen to stably supply electricity. It consists of a solar power generation system, storage battery, hydrogen production equipment, hydrogen storage alloy tank and pure hydrogen fuel cell... Meanwhile, Hydrogen car smashes world records in six-day demonstration around London's M25 A new world record has been set for the longest-ever continuous journey in a hydrogen car, after the London Hydrogen Network Expansion project (LHNE) spent six days driving more than 6,000 miles around the M25 in a Hyundai ix35 fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV)... Many here are old enough to remember the gas lines of the '70s. Toyota has perfected a car that doesn't need a drop of gas. But in 2016, few seem to care. This is the biggest energy revolution to happen in our lifetimes. It is going to change everything. Cheap renewable electricity will be the norm- because solar and wind power get cheaper every day. It is all a matter of storage of the hydrogen. ;)
http://www.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/toshiba-completes-solar-powered-hydrogen-productionstorage-system-at-hotel 
#14. To: Aquila, Lod (#13)
Great information. Thanks. I believe they are ignoring the hydrogen revolution because we are way behind in it. Plus there are others, such as Elon Musk, who are intent on other technologies. ;)
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
#15. To: Aquila (#13)
Thanks for bringing us this wonderful information! Maybe there is hope...
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
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