Uh-oh, a new challenger to our boys at Cambridge.
With a blistering speed of almost 56 mph Sunswift Ivy, a solar-powered car made by students at the University of New South Wales, has become a Guinness world record holder. The speed was significantly faster than the previous record of 40 mph. The milestone is for cars powered exclusively by silicon solar cells. IVy normally uses its cells to charge a 25kg battery, but this was removed for the record attempt. The Sunswift IVy is car that is the same size as an average sedan but half the height and 1/10th of the weight of an average car. Powered completely by the Sun and creating no emissions during the operation cycle, this car has a top speed of approximately 71.4 mph and an estimated average speed of 53 mph. All of this is achieved on the amount of power needed to toast two pieces of bread (1300 watts of power generated by silicon solar cells). The Sunswift Ivy also sports a three-wheeled vehicle with a monocoque carbon fiber body, brushless CSIRO 3 phase DC 1800 W motor and, of course, the solar array. The record-beating run took place at 10.32 am. The team wasn’t expecting to get peak sun until noon and therefore wasn’t expecting to break the record so early in the day.
Dig