Uni students amped to take on solar EV world record attempt

A solar-powered car designed and built by students from a Sydney university is out to set a world record this week by attempting to travel 1000km in less than 10 hours without recharging.

The car, dubbed Sunswift 7, was built by a team of students from UNSW Sydney under the watchful eye of the former head of operations for the Red Bull F1 team, Professor of Practice and Sunswift Racing Team Principal, Richard Hopkins.

This Saturday (December 17) at the Australian Automotive Research Centre in Wensleydale, Victoria, the team will attempt to travel the entire 1000km distance at an average speed of 100km/h.

If successful, Sunswift 7 will set a new Guinness World Record for ‘Fastest Electric Vehicle over 1000km on a single charge’.

“There isn’t a production electric car on the market today that could go 1000km on a single charge, not even the most advanced Tesla, so we are trying to demonstrate what is ultimately achievable if you focus on efficiency,” said Prof Hopkins.

The ex-Red Bull F1 chief said the record attempt will showcase what is truly possible in terms of EV performance. Although it’s fitted with a standard EV battery, Sunswift 7 has been built and designed to be ‘ultra-efficient’.

Team Manager and student at UNSW Sydney, Andrea Holden, said the Sunswift team feels “on top of the world… but setting a Guinness record would be exciting and surreal and just validate all the effort we have in over the past two years to get to this point.”

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