U Of M Unveils Solar Car Built To Compete Down Under
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The University of Minnesota unveiled its entry Thursday for the World Solar Challenge.
The challenge is an 1,800 mile race across the Australian Outback slated to take place this October.
The U's car, Daedalus, will compete in the new Cruiser Class, which aims to balance practicality with efficiency.
Daedalus does have a few features of regular cars, like a stereo an actual seats.
A team of 30 people worked more than 30,000 hours during the past 10 months creating and building the solar car.
We're one of the few teams that actually designs and builds all of our own electronics," said Neil Dencklau, the project lead. "There's nothing on the car that wasn't designed and built here in house, which really sets us apart and really gives us a really good understanding of what our car is actually doing."
The car's two motors have a combined 42 horsepower, and Daedalus can reach a top speed of 90 mph.
During the race, however, drivers are required to follow the speed limit of 75 miles per hour.
