As the sun rises on the remote Northern Territory outback, a rusty old windmill looms above the vast bushland.<\/p>\n
The scene is reminiscent of an earlier time \u2014 the rural landscape like something from an old bush poem. But below the line of the horizon lies a scene more akin to science fiction.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
World Solar Challenge teams are racing past iconic outback sites like the Devils Marbles as they head down south. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n
Six futuristic vehicles, shaped like alien spaceships, are parked outside the Dunmarra Wayside Inn, with the solar cells plastered across their bonnets soaking up the glow of the morning sun.<\/p>\n
Dozens of young engineers are buzzing with nervousness, frantically yelling instructions at each other in Dutch, Japanese, French and Swedish.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The electric vehicles competing in the challenge are all solar-powered. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n
It is partway through the World Solar Challenge, a five-day event in which university students from around the world race 3,000 kilometres \u2014 from Darwin to Adelaide \u2014 in electric vehicles they have designed, all powered by solar energy.<\/p>\n
After leaving Darwin on Sunday morning, these six teams made it some 630 kilometres down the road that day before setting up camp at 5pm, as per competition rules.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The World Solar Challenge welcomes scientific minds from around the globe to Australia’s Top End. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A Romanian team crafted this sleek solar-powered vehicle. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
“These cars run on the sun and their batteries are pretty small, especially under this year’s regulations,” Western Sydney University (WSU) team leader and engineering student Ruari Milligan says.<\/p>\n
“Getting these morning charges is essential.”<\/p>\n
The real challenge begins once the cars are back on the road, as teams navigate the perils of the Stuart Highway in the low-lying, lightweight vehicles.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Outback Australia serves as a very different backdrop for some of the international competitors, including Canada, where snow is much more common. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Western Sydney University team says taking advantage of the morning sun is crucial to ensure their vehicle has the power to keep racing. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n
“We’re sharing the roads with 63-metre-long road trains while navigating cattle grids, roadkill, emus jumping out [in] the road, fires, heavy winds,” WSU’s Aaron Sharma says.<\/p>\n
“The Australian highway really does teach you some lessons.”<\/p>\n
Visiting competitors haven’t been taking the challenge lightly.<\/p>\n
The reigning champions, who have travelled all the way from Belgium, prepared for the competition by putting their drivers through heat endurance training.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This University of Groningen driver is representing one of this year’s teams from the Netherlands. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The vehicles will travel 3,000km, all the way down to Adelaide, but there’s sure to be bumps along the way. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n
“We’ve been training in climate chambers at higher humidity and temperatures, just to see how our bodies react and how our reaction times change,” Yarne Billen, one of the Innoptus Solar Team pilots, says.<\/p>\n
“Here in the Northern Territory, what you call ‘winter’ is summer in Belgium.”<\/p>\n
No amount of training, however, could save competitors from the bumpy ride.<\/p>\n
“In Japan we have such smooth roads, it’s my first time running on such a bumpy road,” Kentaro Kiyono, from Wakayama University, says.<\/p>\n
“I had no idea what was happening in my car, I was so surprised.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Japanese team says road conditions in outback Australia are quite different to back home. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n
Innovation pulls ahead<\/p>\n
As the 34 teams competing in this year’s World Solar Challenge departed Darwin on Sunday morning, crowds of locals flocked to Parliament House to see them off.<\/p>\n
Further down the A1, roadside spectators in camping chairs became a regular sight.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Spectators in Darwin got a firsthand look at the unique vehicles, like this design from the South Korean team. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The World Solar Challenge has attracted some of the world’s best and brightest, along with the vehicles they’ve designed, in hopes of reducing their impact on the planet. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n
But, while the challenge maintains high novelty value, Danny Kennedy from the Global Solar Council says it also serves as a testing ground for what could one day become mainstream automobile technology.<\/p>\n
“Things that are tested in this competition, by university teams driving down the Stuart Highway, are actually ending up in the real world,” he says.<\/p>\n
Event ambassador Chris Selwood, an electrical engineer with nearly three decades of involvement in the World Solar Challenge, agrees.<\/p>\n
“The tyres being used are made of 65 per cent recycled tyre material,” he says.<\/p>\n
“The tyres that were tested last competition are now finding their way already onto production vehicles.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hot laps took place in Darwin before teams embarked on their interstate drive, putting their innovative designs to the test. (Supplied: Jean-Pierre Ronco)<\/p>\n
According to Deakin University Solar Team’s Tamanna Sharma, it isn’t just the finished products that embody the values of sustainability.<\/p>\n
“We’ve made our car from scratch using supplies from local manufacturers,” she says.<\/p>\n
“We managed to reduce our carbon footprint by 55 per cent, just by doing that.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The vehicles, including this design from Australia’s Deakin University team, kicked off the trip from Darwin over the weekend. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
Fortunately for spectators, the emphasis on emissions reduction hasn’t prevented the cars’ designers from having fun.<\/p>\n
Italian team Onda Solare is racing solar car Emilia 5.9, which pays homage to Ferrari with its curved roof and slick and red exterior.<\/p>\n
It’s one of several competing vehicles with a built-in AI companion that allows drivers to access real-time road conditions and other information related to upcoming locations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Italian team’s slick red vehicle pays homage to Ferrari. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A Swedish team is also among the challenge competitors. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
Estonian team Solaride \u2014 who were awarded top marks by the competition’s judges for style, comfort and innovation \u2014 developed an air ventilation system and built it into their car’s seating, as well as a smart screen that functions as a vehicle control centre.<\/p>\n
“It feels very good. This year we spent a lot of time improving the car’s practicality, adding features and making it comfortable,” team member Sander Robas says.<\/p>\n
An opportunity to ‘nerd out’ together<\/p>\n
In the minutes before their designated departure at 8am on Sunday, the competitive edge comes out among the teams at the Dunmarra inn.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Teams aren’t taking the challenge lightly, with 34 different groups competing for the trophy. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Multiple teams from the Netherlands are racing in this year’s World Solar Challenge. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
Competitors sprint back and forth across the tarmac, engineers yell at passers-by not to cast shade on their solar panels, and synchronised team chants ring through the air.<\/p>\n
There is no doubt these teams are in it to win it.<\/p>\n
“Our best position so far has been fourth, but we understand why we’ve gotten fourth and we’ve changed the game,” Juliette Evers from Top Dutch Solar Racing says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Top Dutch Solar Racing team has changed their design in hopes it will give them a competitive edge, with their hot laps practice run result proving promising. (Supplied: Jean-Pierre Ronco)<\/p>\n
But going up against the Belgium reigning champions means their work is cut out for them.<\/p>\n
“We have very good morale, we’ve won two world titles in a row and we’re hoping for a third,” Innoptus team manager Wout Rubbrecht says.<\/p>\n
Winning aside, however, participants say there is an underlying camaraderie among rivals.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There’s an undeniable sense of joy among competitors, who are thrilled to share their scientific talents on the global stage. (Supplied: Jean-Pierre Ronco)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The World Solar Challenge is a great exercise in team building among the university participants. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
“It’s very exciting to see all the other teams with their own innovations, we always try and catch up by playing football or having dinner together,” Mr Rubbrecht says.<\/p>\n
Ms Evers says, while the sense of competition is strong, it’s the shared enthusiasm that makes the World Solar Challenge worthwhile.<\/p>\n
“I think there are a few engineers from different teams who are talking about making a company together some day,” she says.<\/p>\n
“It’s really inspiring being here, because we nerd out over a very specific kind of topic, and now we’re surrounded by others who can relate to that.”<\/p>\n
The challenge brings together scientific minds from across Australia and the world. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This sleek yellow design came from the German team. (Supplied: Jean-Pierre Ronco)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the sun rises on the remote Northern Territory outback, a rusty old windmill looms above the vast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[256,72177,254,64,63,99,72182,72192,19494,72193,72196,2572,72190,1474,66994,1098,72187,72186,72181,3810,72189,19158,72194,8525,6831,72178,72195,72179,72185,72176,2261,65498,105,72183,57301,72188,72184,72191,72180],"class_list":["post-98583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-ai","tag-alternative-energy","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-car-race","tag-car-technology","tag-carbon-footprint","tag-carbon-reduction","tag-comradery","tag-energy","tag-global-solar-council","tag-innovation","tag-international-competition","tag-nt","tag-outback-desert","tag-outback-race","tag-race-to-adelaide","tag-recycling","tag-reducing-emissions","tag-renewables","tag-solar-design","tag-solar-panels","tag-solar-power","tag-solar-powered-car","tag-solar-technology","tag-solar-vehicle","tag-stuart-highway","tag-sunlight","tag-sustainability","tag-sustainable-technology","tag-technology","tag-technology-challenge","tag-tyres","tag-uni-students","tag-vehicle-challenge","tag-vehicle-technology","tag-world-solar-challenge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}