UNSW students smash electric car world speed record

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.