Thanks for it

Tom {San Francisco}

The overall winner, Tokai University's team, had a driver with superb abilities, which may have helped that team avoid some of the on-road mishaps that plagued others. Basically, though, the event seems structured to ensure failure, and I think those who unquestioningly compete in or encourage this sort of competition must give little introspection to the reasonableness of what's being done. There are very understandable reasons cars like CUER's, or even UofMI's, which faltered on a "hill" due to inadequate power, perform as they do. These aren't rational efforts at road vehicles that perform with any degree of assurity, but ones predicated on the notion that sustained long distance road travel in such solar cars is rash. The effortlessness at which even the best of these cars may seem to cross a continent is basically illusory. That's true even of the vehicle of the Power of One team that I've been part of. The xof1 solar car drove to the arctic, drove at night, drove without escort vehicles on occassion, and on harsh roads and in harsh weather – accruing more miles than all the World Solar Challenges that have ever been run, and doing this – I think over 18,000 miles in about 13 months -while only recharging from the solar panels on the vehicle.. On the surface that seems incredible, which it was, but that doesn't prove solar cars are capable cars in the sense that most people expect their road car to be. The focus on putting solar cells on the vehicle is myopic, yet race regulations and the nature of the competitions ensure that's what's done.
-brian

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