Putting All this Sunshine to Good Use

People have been designing solar-powered cars for decades, and they only get more exciting. Someday the solar powered car will become more than just a science experiment and will make its way onto our roads. A solar vehicle has solar panels on the surface of its vehicle and Photovoltaic (PV) cells that convert the sun's energy directly into electrical energy.

Every year there is a solar car race across the United States and Canada called the North American Solar Challenge (NASC). Colleges and Universities from across the continent design and build solar vehicles for the event. Vehicles are timed from one location to the next - south to north across the United States then turning west when reaching Canada.

By combining engineering from aerospace, bicycle, alternative energy, and automotive technologies, people have been able to put together some pretty impressive machines! This year the route started in Dallas, Texas and went to Calgary, Alberta. Besides strict standards for the engineering process in order to ensure safety requirements, here are some rules for the cars:

• The total area of all solar cells and reflectors must not exceed 6 square meters
• When the vehicle is stopped, the solar array may be pointed towards the sun to charge the battery
• The team with the lowest overall elapsed time wins!

Solar panels can be heavy and are mainly used in stationary situations, like on top of a house. Although we've seen some pretty spectacular solar vehicles in races like the NASC, they're not yet practical for the average American's transportation needs, but these things can change fast!