Students from UNSW’s Sunswift team have smashed the electric car world record for speed over 500km. The team achieved an average speed of more than 100km/h, beating the previous world record of 73km/h.
The record was achieved on a 4.2 kilometre circular track at the Australian Automotive Research Centre, located about 50 kilometres outside Geelong, Victoria, where a quarter of the NSW based team made the trip to witness the record breaking moment.
The car relies on a 60kg battery charged by solar panels on the roof, which were switched off during the world-record attempt.
The new record will no doubt give a boost to Sunswift’s long-term goal of getting their car on Australian roads.
“Five hundred kilometres is pretty much as far as a normal person would want to drive in a single day,” said jubilant project director and third-year engineering student Hayden Smith… “It’s another demonstration that one day you could be driving our car.”
“This record was about establishing a whole new level of single-charge travel for high-speed electric vehicles, which we hope will revolutionise the electric car industry,” Smith said.
