The sun shines on Tokai

The Tokai University Solar Car Team was the first to cross the line in the 2011 World Solar Challenge held in Australia. The competition is for electric vehicles and the winner is the first to cover the 3,000km between Darwin and Adelaide. A major feature of the challenge being the efficiency based on energy management. The solar cars are allowed a nominal 5kW hours of stored energy and all other energy must come from the sun or be recovered from the kinetic energy of the vehicle. The Tokai team left Darwin on 16th October and arrived at the finishing line four days later with a total drive time of 32.75 hours and an average speed of 91.54 km/hour. Of the thirty seven starters only seven completed the full journey. Confirmation of the result apparently awaits a review as one team has lodged a protest.