UNSW’s Electric Car Record Attempt

Early next week, the University of New South Wales' Sunswift team will attempt to break a record that has stood for 26 years - the fastest long range electric vehicle.

Early next week, the University of New South Wales’ Sunswift team will attempt to break a record that has stood for 26 years – the fastest long range electric vehicle.

The attempt will occur in the Sunswift team’s eVe solar car.

eVe’s 800 watts of solar panels and 60kg lithium-ion battery storage give the vehicle a range of 800km on a single charge; helped along by sleek aerodynamics, low centre of gravity and lightweight carbon-fibre shell.

With a top speed of 140km/h, eVe is also the world’s fastest long-range electric car in some respects. However, for this challenge eVe’s solar panels will need be switched off and the vehicle must set the record based on average speed over a distance of 500km on a single full charge. The average speed the team will need to better is 73 kilometres per hour.

“The land speed record attempt is really a unique proving ground for the talents of our next-generation engineers,” said Dr Graham Doig, the project’s academic mentor.

The attempt will occur at the Australian Automotive Research Centre at Anglesea in Victoria on Monday July 21 or Wednesday July 23.

There’s an even more exciting prospect for eVe ahead. The team says the design is expected to meet Australian road registration requirements within 12 months, making it “a symbol for a new era of sustainable driving”.

This vehicle is the 5th generation of eVe and was originally created for the 2013 World Solar Challenge Cruiser Class. Sunswift placed third behind Hochschule Bochum (runners up) and Solar Team Eindhoven (winners) in the overall judging of the Class.

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Trivia : the fastest average speed achieved for an electric vehicle is 487.672 km/h (303.025 mi/h), set in 2009 – but that was over two-way flying kilometre. The vehicle that set the record was the Buckeye Bullet 2 designed and built by students at Ohio State University.

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