Aussie uni students set solar car world record

Although solar cars are unlikely to enter mass production any time soon, that hasn’t stopped University of NSW students from completing the arduous journey from Perth to Sydney in a solar-powered car.

The UNSW Sunswift solar car team, comprising 14 students, worked in concert to steer the group's sixth-generation vehicle – called Violet – into the record books by driving an astonishing 4100km while using 17 times less energy than an average car.

It's unlikely a conventional EV, such as a Hyundai IONIQ or Tesla Model S, will ever match a bespoke solar car for economical energy use between Perth and Sydney, since Violet now holds the Guinness World Record for the lowest energy consumption while driving across Australia in an electric car.

According to the Sunswift solar car team, it cost less than $50 to operate the car over seven days of driving – averaging around 600km per day. But that's without any creature comforts.

To set the new Guinness World Record, the goal was to keep energy consumption under 5.5kWh/100km for the entirety of the journey, and the Violet solar car averaged 3.25kWh/100km.

Electricity consumption for electrical appliances and now electric vehicles is measured in kiloWatt-hours (kWh) -- essentially the amount of energy required to operate each hour.

Give or take a few kilowatt hours, the Violet solar car used the same amount of electricity as that of an average household each day, around 22kWh.

The Sunswift team has a Guinness World Record under its belt and will return for the global solar car race in October 2019 when the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge returns to Australia.

The Dean of engineering at UNSW, Professor Mark Hoffman, said the team "pushed the boundaries of modern engineering" and proved that "solar-powered cars are likely to be a big part of Australia’s motoring future."

Hyundai and Kia EVs will soon get solar panels, but what do you think -- are solar-powered cars the next big thing for EVs in Australia? Have your say in the comments section below.