Designing Transport Fueled by the Sun

Deakin University and ACCIONA Energía have worked together in a partnership to produce a solar powered car that will race in the 2023 World Solar Challenge.

The petrol problem

The key issue with petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles is that they omit greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere which harms the environment. Some vehicle manufacturers have developed electric, hybrid-electric and hydrogen powered vehicles as a solution to reducing overall emissions. Within the transport industry there is also research investigations into other forms of power for transport, one of them being solar.

How does a solar powered car work?

A solar powered car has solar panels attached to the surface of the car which convert energy from the sun into electrical energy that can be used to power the car. The use of solar energy is beneficial because it is free, it is unlimited, and it doesn’t cause pollution like the way that using fossil fuels does. However, using solar energy has some limitations – mainly that you can only use solar power during the day and there is less solar energy available on cloudy and rainy days.  This means that the cars require batteries to store the solar energy, which can be expensive.

A Solar Strategy

The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is a solar car race from Darwin to Adelaide that drives innovation in solar technology. The event requires teams to design and build a solar vehicle that is able to race along a 3,000km outback track powered only by the energy of the sun.

Events like this provide an environment for unlimited innovation and gives participants an opportunity to experiment with new ideas. These events are pushing us closer to developing solar technologies that could be used to power commercial cars.

ACCIONA Energía and Deakin University

ACCIONA Energía has partnered with Deakin University and funded a team to participate in the World Solar Challenge. The event, which was supposed to take part in 2021, was postponed until 2023 because of COVID19.

The car has been designed with innovative technologies and a sleek design, including carbon fibre wheels from Carbon Revolution. 

The car is named the ASCEND vehicle, which stands for ACCIONA Energía's Solar Car Engineered by Deakin. 

We are excited to see how the team at Deakin University performs in this challenge. Check out our latest video about the partnership below. 

Read more about the unveiling of the car here.