Across the Outback on Photons Alone

Newswise — Yet that is exactly what 38 teams from around the world did this past October. At the World Solar Challenge, the foremost eco-race on the planet, university students and hobbyist-engineers raced their cutting-edge solar cars for five days across the Australian outback. They tested both their technology and their wits as they traversed some of the world's most grueling terrain. In order to survive the rugged outback, the solar racers built vehicles that showed off some of the best in electric vehicle design, with extreme energy efficiency and incredible aerodynamics as their top priorities. IEEE Spectrum associate editor Sandra Upson dared the dangers of the outback to cover the race, and bring back video footage, for the February issue of the magazine.