On July 15, the University’s solar vehicle team was be at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, preparing for the longest solar car race ever: the American Solar Challenge. Perhaps the 19-member team took a moment to consider the Model T in the museum’s automobile gallery and marvel at how technology has evolved over the past century. The University’s solar vehicle project has evolved as well—over the past decade. Borealis, a new and improved solar car, is the team’s best bet for taking on an international field of 37 other solar cars in the grueling, 10-day, 2,300-mile race along Route 66 from Chicago to Claremont, California.

A solar car transforms light photons into electricity that charges batteries, the motor’s power source. Borealis has more than 300,000 solar cells that collect electricity and sports a rectangular body that is 200 pounds lighter than any of the program’s previous vehicles. Students spent two years building Borealis, which can run 55 miles per hour on the power of a hairdryer and travel more than 120 miles without any sun.

"It just blows my mind," says project manager and graduate student Lisa Mauer. "It’s absolutely amazing to see we could create something like this."

During the race, Borealis will cross five states, including the mountainous terrain of the San Gabriel Mountains. The car’s light weight will work to its advantage. But weather is probably the biggest factor in the race. "The vehicle not only has to perform very reliably, which is always difficult when it runs many hours without maintenance, but you have to manage the speeds according to what the weather conditions are," says Dr. Patrick Starr, faculty adviser and professor of mechanical engineering at the University.

On sunny days, the cars can travel at the posted speed limit. Solar cells collect energy while the car is driving, keeping the battery charged. If the following day is cloudy the car must rely only on battery power with little or no chance to recharge the battery. Races are won on teams’ strategy and ability to predict the weather as much as they are on speed and efficiency.

Although the University has yet to garner first place in a solar race, the team has forged a competitive track record rivaling teams from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. Established in 1992, the University’s team has built and raced five vehicles, the first four based on variations of one car: the Aurora model. Aurora II won second place in Sunrayce 95, and set an average daily speed record of 50.4 miles per hour.

While the University team has high hopes for Borealis this year, the car had yet to show what it could do leading up to the American Solar Car Challenge. At a qualifying race in Topeka, Kansas, this spring, where cars were required to cover 125 miles in each of three days around a two-mile track, Borealis encountered major motor failure. "We thought we were through that day," Starr says.

Thanks to good sportsmanship and the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Indiana) team, which lent a spare motor to Borealis, the University did not have to forfeit the qualifying race and finished 17th.

"All the quirks are out now," Mauer says. "I think this team is really ready."

- Kathryn Howard