RiAus PDplus: World Solar Challenge

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RiAus PD<em>plus</em>: World Solar Challenge

When: Wednesday 10 August 2011
Time: 3:45pm to 4:30pm

While much of the world is still struggling with the prospect of solar power and only beginning to embrace electric cars, there is a great adventure in Australia that proves both of these things can be used to make transport more sustainable – the World Solar Challenge.

The World Solar Challenge (WSC) began in 1987 and is an adventure that occurs once every two years, where teams from around the world design a solar car and see who can make it the 3,021 km from Darwin to Adelaide.

As opposed to other motor competitions, this isn’t a race – ’it’s not how fast you can go, it’s how far you can go on how little fuel’, says Event Director Chris Selwood. The aim of the challenge is to drive innovation in solar technology and electric car design, and promote the message of sustainable transport and help people realise that through smart engineering we can make a difference to the environment.