Cambridge team unveils solar car ambitions

Students at Cambridge University have unveiled plans for a solar-powered racing car designed to cruise at 60mph while using the same amount of energy it takes to power a hair dryer.

Codenamed Bethany, the car is on schedule to be completed this summer and will race in the World Solar Challenge, a 3,000km race across the Australian Outback.

As well as featuring ultra-lightweight materials and a six-metre-square 'solar skin', the car will boast an array of technical innovations, which its developers hope could be more widely adopted by green vehicle manufacturers.

"A lot of the technology is applicable to electric vehicles," team manager Anthony Law told BusinessGreen.com. "We've done a lot of work on battery management and control systems that help to improve efficiency, and we are using a new lithium polymer battery that has a very good energy density."

He added that while the car's motor would not be powerful enough to be used in standard electric cars, it did boast 85 per cent efficiency, while the aerodynamic design could also be used as a template for car designers looking to improve fuel efficiency.

The car also features a software-based cruise control system that uses complex route data as well as real-time information on weather and road surfaces to calculate the optimum speed of travel.

"If you are travelling through cloudy weather it can work out whether to speed up or slow down," explained Law. "The software has been designed for a solar car, but could also be applied to conventional cars."