Zoomi Life

Did you know that UFOs run on solar power? Me neither, until I saw an article about the Canadian solar-electric car, dubbed the UFO, had broken the world record for distance. The previous record, for the, uhh, record, was set by an Australian team and was 13,055 kilometers. The Canadian UFO just finished a 15,000 kilometer run, which took 140 days.

The car began life as a concept in 2001 and, $500,000 later, was a working model. Titled the X of 1 and looking very much like a UFO with rubber tires, it quickly became known as the UFO Car. It runs a respectable 200km on a charge at an average of 120km/h. That’s about 124 miles and 74mph, for those who don’t want to do any math.

The team, headed by Marcelo Da Luz, crossed Canada twice and stopped at 44 towns and cities along the way. The journey began in June, 2008 and was completed in October.

Despite its record-breaking ability and it’s being hailed as a breakthrough in solar-electric propulsion, don’t expect to see this car at your local dealership anytime soon. It’s far from that. The designers had to get special permission from the various governments in provincial Canada just to drive it on this trek, as it meets none of the expected safety standards for vehicles operating in North America.

It is, however, a real breakthrough in technological application. While I’d seriously doubt that self-solar charged electric cars will be the norm (now, if ever), other land and air vehicles are not as limited. Aircraft, for instance, and perhaps even big-rigs might have the surface area required to make this realistic for them. Who knows?

This Post via XOf1, EcoFriend