Car makes record-breaking trip on single solar-powered charge. The car, designed and built by students at UNSW Sydney, travelled 1,000km without recharging.
A solar-powered car has made a record-breaking 1000km trip on a single charge fuelled by the sun.
The Sunswift 7 averaged nearly 85kph (53mph) in less than twelve hours to set a Guinness World Record.
The car, designed and built by students at UNSW Sydney, posted a verified time of 11 hours 52.08, completing its record with just eight minutes to spare.
After the challenge at the Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC) in Wensleydale, Victoria, the Sunswift Racing team now hold the record for the ‘fastest EV over 1000km on a single charge’.
The vehicle completed 240 laps of AARC’s Highway Circuit, equivalent to more than the driving distance from Sydney to Melbourne, to break the record.
The car stopped only to allow for a change of driver every few hours, plus one tyre change due to a puncture and a nerve-wracking battery repair.
The official honour, and Guinness World Record certificate, was conferred a few days later once timing information and car telemetry data had been analysed and confirmed by a team of experts.
Sunswift Team Manager Andrea Holden, a Mechanical Engineering student at UNSW Sydney, said: “It feels very weird to think that we’ve helped to make something that’s the best in the entire world.
“Two years ago, when we started to build this car, everything was going into lockdown and there were a lot of difficult moments.
“But it’s been so rewarding to see the whole team come together and make so much progress and get us to this amazing point.
“It was a lot of work and a lot of hours and a lot of stress, but it’s all been worth it.
“This world record is validation of all the effort everyone in the team has put in.”
Sunswift 7 is the latest in a long line of successful solar-powered cars from UNSW since the first vehicle was produced in 1996.