Solar-Powered Car Crosses Canada

T O R O N T O, July 30 -- A group of Canadian students set a new world record for the longest distance traveled in a solar-powered car this weekend, using about as much electricity as it takes to run a toaster.

The group’s month-long journey began in the East Coast city of Halifax on July 1 and ended Saturday in Vancouver, just north of Seattle.

Traveling at an average speed of about 50 mph while using only 1,000 watts of power, the students from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario logged 4,376 miles in their cross-Canada drive, beating the previous record of 2,522 miles set by an Australian team.

“There was the odd little snag here and there as certain parts came unglued, but they weren’t too critical. We just touched them up and we were off again,” team leader James Keirstead said.

Besides the fear that their home-made vehicle might come apart, the other pitfall was some rain they encountered in the Rocky Mountains, Keirstead said.

“We set out just to prove that it could be done,” he said.

The Queen’s car, called Radiance, traps sunlight in solar cells, which produces electricity to run the motor. Excess energy is stored in a battery pack that powers the car on cloudy days.

Resembling a spaceship, the black car has a thin oblong body with rectangular solar cells. The cabin space is large enough for one driver, who must lie flat because of the aerodynamic design.

With two official drivers, the car covered about 300 km a day.

The team hoped the tour would educate the public about viable energy alternatives.

To demonstrate this, Keirstead said the solar car needed only $2 worth of electricity to travel from Halifax to Toronto. In contrast, the mini van transporting team members and theirequipment guzzled $405 worth of gasoline.