Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2017 at Adelaide, Australia (presented at www.sunisthefuture.net)
Crowds awaiting for the arrival of solar cars at Adelaide, Australia (presented at www.sunisthefuture.net)
Finish Line at Adelaide, Australia (presented at www.sunisthefuture.net)
Awaiting for the arrival of solar cars at Adelaide, Australia (presented at www.sunisthefuture.net)
(Please click on red links & note magenta)
On this gorgeous Oct. 12, 2017, sun drenched day, Victoria Square at Adelaide, Australia, was filled with enthusiastic solar or vehicle advocates, parents, solar car racers/students from 30 countries, and curious audience, awaiting for the first solar vehicles to arrive. Without further ado, allow me to share the excitement of participants and audience of Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2017 at Adelaide, Australia, below:
More photos, videos, and posts about these and other solar vehicles designed, built, and raced by students from 30 countries will be presented in the following posts.
For more on history of World Solar Challenge, please feel free to refer to our previous posts, below:
World Solar Challenge 2015, Parade at Victoria Square in Adelaide, Australia (photo of sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, presented at sunisthefuture.net)
(Please click on red links & note magenta)
Yes, this is the year to celebrate the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge’s 30th Anniversary in Australia! The event began on Sunday, Oct. 8, 2017, at State Square, in front of the Parliament House of Northern Territory (at 6:00 am-8:30 am, with the first car leaving at 8:30 am) and expect to see the solar car teams arriving at Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga of Adelaide, Australia (between Wednesday, Oct. 11 to Sunday, Oct. 15, 2017). After teams of students from 30 countries designed and built their own solar cars, they have traversed 3,000 km between Darwin and Adelaide in 5-8 days, to meet the challenge of 3 classes of World Solar Challenge of 2017: Challenger Class; Cruiser Class; and Adventure Class.
World Solar Challenge was the brain child of solar pioneer Hans Tholstrup and car racer Larry Perkins. In 1982, they embarked on a quest to drive a home-built solar car The Quiet Achiever across Australia from West to East. Hans also enthusiastically urged others to explore and develop solar transport. So, the World Solar Challenge was born. Inaugurated in 1987 with pioneer sponsor, the South Australian Tourism Commission, the World Solar Challenge continues to showcase the development of advanced automotive technology and promote alternatives to conventional vehicle engines.
Using no more than six square meters of solar panels, bright young minds from different parts of the world are on track in developing efficient solar powered electric vehicles. Every two years, teams from international universities and technical institutes gather with private entrepreneurs at Down Under to promote the knowledge and fact that sun/solar is the future.
Above are photos and videos from World Solar Challenge 2015. Keep in mind that these solar car teams will be arriving tomorrow Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017, at Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga, Adelaide, Australia. If you will be near Adelaide, check out Victoria Square for views of many interesting designs of solar cars.
To find out the motivation behind organizing this event, please feel free to view the video of an interview with Event Organizer Chris Selwood in 2013, below:
To find out the updated result for all teams and all classes and to see all the solar cars at World Solar Challenge 2017, please click HERE.
To find all the supportive Scientific Faculty behind World Solar Challenge, please click HERE.
For Regulations of the 2017 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, please click HERE.
For World Solar Challenge web site, please click HERE.
For more on healthy, happy, and sustainable living, please feel free to visit: Windermere Sun, www.WindermereSun.com, an online publication promoting community activities, businesses, and collaborations for healthy, happy, and sustainable living.
Within two weeks after Hurricane Irma swept over St. John (smallest of the three main U.S. Virgin Islands), a survivor used debris from a nearby home to spell out “SEND TESLA“. With significant loss of life, lack of drinking water, dehydration, food scarcity, and disappearing power grid in Puerto Rico, the humanitarian effort by Tesla stepping in to help was truly welcomed. Bloomberg reported that Tesla had been sending hundreds of its Powerwall battery systems to be paired with solar panels to help restore the power back to the battered island. The monumental destruction brought by hurricanes Irma and Maria on the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in September is opening up the possibilities for companies such as Tesla to move in and establish a presence. Tesla sent representatives to the island to begin signing up survivors for solar services.
Tesla indicated that some of the systems (Tesla Powerwall+Solar Panels) are already in Puerto Rico and others are on their way. Bloomberg also reported, “The company (Tesla) has employees on the ground to install them and is working with local organizations to identify locations.” The Puerto Rico island is still mostly without without power.
Thanks to Tesla for bringing power/electricity back to some of the people of Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.
Mia Farrow’s Twitter further reminds us of the BBC report of 55% of the people in Puerto Rico are without drinking water. Hopefully, President Trump’s visit tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017) to Puerto Rico will bring more attention, help, and water being dropped in by the U.S. National Guard to these Americans at Puerto Rico.
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
Hyperloop pod carriages major components designed by Elon Musk (presented at WindermereSun.com & sunisthefuture.net)
Hyperloop tube (presented at WindermerSun.com & sunisthefuture.net)
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The vision of Elon Musk, once a simple sketch in Musk’s blog back in August of 2013, will soon become a reality. At the speed of 760 mph, this high speed mode of transport would allow commuters to travel between Orlando and Miami in 26 minutes or between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30.15 minutes (twice as fast as commercial air travel). It is truly enabling us to travel at a blink of an eye. As an alternative to boats, aircrafts, automobiles, and trains, Elon Musk’s vision was that of hyperloop transporting people (and cars) via electromagnetically levitated pods/capsules enclosed inside of steel low-pressure tubes. Musk described the design looking like a shotgun with the tube running side by side for most of the journey and closing the loop at either end. The tube is partially evacuated to reduce friction. The capsule or pod carriage rides on a cushion of air forced through multiple openings at the capsule’s bottom (as though capsules are suspended midair by air casters, think of pucks on air hockey table float around ), further reducing friction. The capsules would be propelled (accelerate or decelerate) by linear induction motors (which are magnetic) placed at intervals along the route. These tubes would be mounted on columns 50 to 100 yards apart and the pods or capsules inside would travel up to 760 mph. Finally the hyperloop vehicle itself contains air compressor near the front to intake excess air in the tube and exhaust in the back because excess air would cause resistance and drag that would slow down the vehicle.
Since Elon Musk has made the hyperloop design/technology open source, there had been multiple governments, universities, companies worldwide exploring this concept . Hyperloop One, launched in 2014, previously known as Hyperloop Technologies, is a company in Los Angeles, California, that is working to commercialize the Hyperloop for moving passengers and/or cargo at airline speeds at a fraction of the cost of air travel. The concept of Hyperloop transportation was introduced and named by Elon Musk in August 2013, although he is not directly involved with Hyperloop One. The company has raised $160 million and demonstrated a form of propulsion technology in May 2016 at its test site north of Las Vegas. Its new round of funding on September 21, revealing an additional $85 million received from investors such as DP World, Caspian VC Partners, WTI, and OurCrowd.com. So, in total, Hyperloop One has raised $245 million since its launch in 2014 and is now worth more than $700 million. Hyperloop One has completed a 500m Development Loop (DevLoop) in North Las Vegas and just after midnight on May 12, 2017, the company held its first full-scale Hyperloop test, becoming the first company in the world to test a full-scale Hyperloop. The test combined Hyperloop components including vacuum, propulsion, levitation, sled, control systems, tube, and structures.
Hyperloop One is currently developing passenger and cargo system routes in the United States, Canada, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates. It is also in early talks with Indian government to build one in India. Its publicly stated goal is to deliver a fully operational Hyperloop system by 2021. Officials with Hyperloop One placed the Florida route on a list of 10 that had cleared an initial proposal review. Each of the cities will now receive resources to help develop feasibility studies for the regions.
“The Hyperloop One Global Challenge started as a call to action for innovators, engineers, trailblazers and dreamers around the world who shared our vision of creating a new mode of transportation,” stated Shervin Pishevar, cofounder and executive chairman of the Hyperloop One group, in an announcement of all of the finalists. Below, is the announcement of Hyperloop One Global Challenge in June of 2016:
Outcome of The Hyperloop One Global Challenge, announced on September 14, 2017:
Winning Teams.Routes Represent United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, India, and Canada
CDOT (Colorado Department of Transportation), Hyperloop One and AECOM Enter Public-Private Partnership to Begin Feasibility Study
Hyperloop One Announce World’s First Global Summit around Hyperloop One Technology
For more details, please refer to HERE
We will be expecting wonderful collaborative efforts and new mode of transportation in the 2020’s. Our world is getting smaller, mostly due to innovations, open source, and great collaborations.
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
