A shiny bright object

My friends would tell you that I’m easily distracted by new shiny bright objects. Don’t know why, I’m a guy and love seeing things out of the ordinary. Especially on four wheels.

My wife and I were getting our daughter Meg settled in school at
Western Michigan University where she is in their College of Aviation.  With the parking lot, jammed with cars, I spotted my shiny bright object. It had four wheels, it was yellow, and low to the ground. Like a dog with a bone, I was a man on a mission to find out more about this vehicle.

It goes way beyond writing a paper

That’s because engineering students at Western built this car as part of their Sunseeker project. This current model is named the Farasi, this vehicle’s power source is solar energy.  It’s body and frame are made of carbon fiber to keep things light and at the same time durable. It’s topside is covered with 391 C60 solar cells which will generate 1.34 kW, enough to charge its Lithium Ion battery and run it two 6hp motors. It’s size is about a third larger that a golf cart.

But this crew went way beyond building the car, they also put it to the test entering the American Solar Challenge and Formula Sun Grand Prix.

See my interview with the Project Leader.