World Solar Challenge 2017

A slowed battery and a broken center console right at the end of the Challenge. But in the end nothing or nobody could stop Solar Team Eindhoven. The student team from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) wins the Cruiser Class (for practical solar-powered cars) for the third time at this year’s Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia. The Cruiser Class is the class for practical, solar-powered cars.

Getting maximum points

The aim of the Cruiser Class is to transport as many people as possible 3,000 kilometers from Darwin to Adelaide in the most energy-efficient way. The Eindhoven team drove the first 1,500 km with five occupants aboard. To move one person 100 kilometers the solar-powered car uses 0.4 kiloWatt hours (kWh). Compare this to a modern electric car that requires at least 8.5 times as much energy to do the same job.Thanks to the efficiency of transporting the most number of people possible, the team had already build a significant lead in points by day two.

Final stage

The team arrived on Friday morning in Adelaide after a journey of 3,022 kilometers, the final 250 of which was covered with 5 people aboard and at an average speed of 70 kilometers per hour. The whole journey was completed with an average of 3.4 persons per kilometer, using 48 kWh and gained a maximum score of 20 out of 20 for practicality on Saturday.