Cars will be racing roughly 1,000 miles in the coming weeks, but not one of them will be using a drop of gasoline.
The Illinois State University Solar Car Team, or Team Mercury as members call it, has built a solar-powered car to compete in a race against other solar cars built by college students. If the team excels at the Formula Sun Grand Prix, the race they are currently preparing for, they will move on to the American Solar Challenge (ASC) that stretches across multiple cities across the country.
Alex Plumadore, team president, and Jessica Lamberty, a member of the racing team, said they are waiting with bated breath for the racing to begin.
Both said say they take pride in having a place at the table while lacking something that most other competing universities have.
“We are a lot smaller than the other teams, and we are one of the only universities competing that (does)not have an engineering program. It is really an incredible thing for our team to be able to compete at this level and to put out a quality car,” said Plumadore.
Once it has been determined that a car meets all the necessary requirements to race, it will compete in the qualifying Formula Sun Grand Prix that begins Friday, Aug. 30, in Topeka, Kansas. The Grand Prix lasts over a three-day period in eight-hour shifts. At the end of the three days, the teams that complete more than 300 laps move onto the American Sun Challenge.
Lamberty is excited to participate in the upcoming races, but what Team Mercury is working for is different than the average race team.
“This is really based on sustainability, which is becoming an up-and=coming trend. We're trying to promote sustainability and against global warming. We are promoting that wherever we go,” said Lamberty.
Outside of racing, Plumadore agreed building a solar-powered car is about contributing to the conversation on renewable energy.
“This serves as a proving ground of technology. This is about pushing innovation on solar vehicles. We are trying to make them as efficient as possible with the intent of applying this to the production of automotive vehicles,” he said.
Solar vehicles currently perform under 80 miles per hour because of the amount of time it takes to charge the battery via sunlight.
The American Solar Challenge will begin in Independence, Missouri, on Tuesday. The cars will travel through Colorado, New Mexico, and end up in in Las Vegas on Aug. 7.
