A team from Tokai University in Japan has won the Carrera Solar Atacama 2014 in a car powered by Panasonic’s HIT solar cells and lithium-ion batteries.
South America’s biggest solar car race runs over 1,400-kilometres; from the desert to the Andes. Tokai University’s solar car team covered the distance in 15 hours and 20 minutes.
The Panasonic HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) solar cells used in the team’s car are composed of a monocrystalline silicon wafer surrounded by ultra thin amorphous silicon layers. HIT solar cells can maintain higher efficiency than a conventional crystalline silicon solar cell under extreme heat and offer a smaller footprint.
The rechargeable lithium-ion batteries Panasonic provided are known as 18650’s (18 mm in diameter x 65 mm in length), a format also used in Tesla vehicles.
Panasonic also supported the team as a sponsor last year, when the students finished runner-up in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2013 in Australia.
Tokai University has been participating in solar car races for 22 years and have won five international titles. This year was the first time the team had participated in the Atacama Solar Race.
” It was a tough course over the Andes, with a maximum elevation difference of over 3,400 meters, but we were able to conquer the challenge thanks to the high performance of Panasonic’s HIT solar cells and lithium-ion batteries, and the teamwork of the students,” said Professor Hideki Kimura of Tokai University, the team’s advisor.
Carrera Solar Atacama 2014 was sponsored by a number of companies, including SunEdison. This year’s race passed through the cities of Iquique, Antofagasta, Calama, San Pedro de Atacama, Toconao, Tocopilla and Pozo Almonte. The Atacama desert is the driest non-polar desert in the world.
