You can’t buy the 2008 Centaurus, but you can keep an eye on the Web site of the University of Minnesota’s Solar Vehicle Project (svp.umn.edu) to see how the Centaurus did in a 2,400-mile race from Dallas to Calgary, July 13–22.
The U’s car was fully designed and built by a team of 30 students who’ve put roughly 30,000 hours into the project using off-the-shelf technology and parts. Centaurus is powered by an array of 530 silicon solar cells that produces 1,500 watts of power on a sunny day.
At 65 miles per hour, the car uses more than that—maybe 2,300 to 2,400 watts, says project advisor Jeff Hammer of the U’s Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics program. But rules of the North American Solar Challenge allow for collecting solar energy from dawn to dusk to charge the vehicle’s battery, even when not driving.
The total cost to build the car—$130,000 plus donations of materials and services worth $250,000—was covered by individual and corporate donors, including 3M, Northwest Airlines, Caterpillar, and others listed on the project site. There’s no new intellectual property in it for them.
“They want to support Minnesota having high-tech talent emerging from the university, people who know how to work on a team, work to a budget, a schedule, technical excellence,” Hammer says. “All the things it takes to make things happen in the world, they want to see people like that come out of the U.”
