The world’s greatest minds come together in the World Solar Challenge

This year celebrates the 30th anniversary of the World Solar Challenge. Every two years, the World Solar Challenge has welcomed the greatest minds from around the world to Australia to challenge the norms and travel the outback in a vehicle powered only by the power of the sun.

Traversing 3,000km from Darwin to Adelaide, teams comprise of tertiary and secondary students from over 30 countries. What these students and their support team have achieved momentous. They have engineered and built a vehicle with their own hands and powered it across some of the world’s most challenging landscape.

Teams must complete the journey with 90% of energy coming from the sun or be recovered from the kinetic energy of the vehicle. These are arguably the most efficient electric vehicles.

Today, while solar cars test the ultimate boundaries of energy efficiency, they also provide incredible insights into the capabilities of everyday vehicle technology. These innovations are at the heart of all electric cars, whether that power comes from hydrogen fuel cells, hybrid engines or even fully-electric commuter cars that draw power from solar cells on the garage roof – they all use the technology that is continually honed to perfection in the World Solar Challenge.

The Darwin Convention Centre is honoured to be hosting the teams and the cars as they go through tstatic scrutineering before the race starts on Sunday 8 October at State Square, Parliament House.