Is this your next car?

Is this your next car?

Why I'm excited about a car race for the first time in years.

Sunswift eVe

For the first time in many years, I'm excited about a car race. And a car. Probably not since the days of the legendary Peter Brock, and the days when as a pubescent boy I had posters of Porsches on my walls, have I cared one iota about car races. Or cars.

Through my journalistic work on science and sustainability over many years, I've followed (without a lot of passion) solar car racing, and in particular the World Solar Challenge - a 3000km road race from Darwin to Adelaide, using only the power of the sun. The image of the founder of Australian Geographic, Dick Smith, squeezing into a ridiculous looking vehicle, with a tiny cabin beneath a huge flat solar array, is burned into my memory.

As the race has gone on, every two years, it has received less and less publicity, and interest in these bizarre-shaped vehicles has waned. Who could possibly imagine themselves squeezing themselves, the kids and the shopping in these weird three-wheel contraptions that at one stage were notoriously likely to roll over at corners or not be able to stop?

This year, the event, which will be held 6-13 October, has a whole new class of vehicle: Cruiser Class. Among other requirements, the vehicles must have four wheels and be able to carry a passenger.

Enter the team of hardworking, innovative students at UNSW, with their Sunswift eVe car. Although the UNSW team have dominated the main solar car racing class for many years now, with an exceptional record with solar cells and mechanical engineering, the team decided to start from scratch and design a brand new car. And this is what I really love - they wanted a car that would excite the public again, and energise the discussion about solar and electric vehicles.

“We want a sports car that will turn heads, that people will want to drive,” says project manager and engineering student, Sam Paterson. "It’s written in our concept design document… it should turn heads, make people want to drive it and be car-shaped.”

Built from carbon fibre, based on the design of supercars, and as light as four blokes, the sports car has 4 square metres of solar panels across the bonnet and roof in a sleek design. It has "proper" controls inside so that anyone should be able to get into it and drive it. Expected to reach top speeds on the track of about 140km/h, it also has a range of about 600km.

Many of the objections many people have to the "solar-powered future" of transport, or even the electrification of cars, have been solved with this design. With an extra battery on board, it could go from Sydney to Melbourne without stopping. It looks great, can be plugged in for a top up of power at any stage, and could just be the way of the future - particularly as Sam and the team are going to try to legally register the vehicle for normal road use after the race. 

Keep an eye out for Sunswift's eVe and the other cars racing in the Cruiser Class this year. One of them just may be your next car.

One of many UNSW volunteer students working 15-hour days to complete the vehicle in time.