Solar cars were first built by universities and manufacturers. The sun energy collector areas appeared to be too large for consumer cars, but that is changing.

Solar cars are not practical means of transportation these days, but are rather demonstration cars and engineering exercises. Solar cars combine technology typically used in the aerospace, bicycle, alternative energy and automotive industries. Unlike usual race cars, solar cars are designed with harsh energy constraints imposed by the race regulations.

Solar Car Races

The first solar car races took place in 1983 in Australia. Now solar cars compete in races such as the World Solar Challenge and the American Solar Challenge. These actions are often sponsored by government agencies, which are excited to encourage the development of alternative energy technology.

Optimizing energy consumption is of primary importance in solar car races. Thus it is extremely important to be able to keep an eye on the speed, energy consumption, energy intake from solar panel, among other things in real time. Some teams take advantage of complicated telemetry that sends car performance data to a computer in a following support vehicle.

The strategy depends upon the race rules and conditions. The majority of solar car races have set starting and stopping points where the aim is to reach the final point in the shortest possible time. The optimal strategy is to travel at a single stable speed during all stages of the race.

A lot of university teams participate in the solar car races because it gives the students the opportunity to get the experience in designing advanced technology cars and dealing with environmental and enhanced materials technology.

The solar cars call for serious support teams similar in size to professional motor racing teams. This is especially the case with the World Solar Challenge where the race takes place in very distant countryside.

There are other races, such as Phaethon, Suzuka and the World Solar Rally. Suzuka is a race taking place in Japan every year, and Phaethon took place in Greece right before the 2004 Olympics. The 20th Anniversary race of the World Solar Challenge will take place in October of 2007, and is already expected to be a memorable event.