Dr David Snowdon, A/Prof Peter Pudney

The 2017 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is proving to be a tough event, for all classes. Cloud and rain have reduced the energy produced by the cars’ solar panels, and so the RACV Cruiser Class cars have relied more on their batteries and external charging. The pace has become all-important -- teams that fall too far behind and are unable to catch up have dropped out of the Cruiser competition. The Australian outback has proven too much for some cars. UNSW suffered a suspension issue and retired from the event.

As a result, the rankings changed significantly. Aside from Bochum and Eindhoven, all teams still in the RACV Cruiser class are carrying just one person and are up to an hour behind the pace required. They will be attempting to conserve their energy and catch up over the next three days.

Every team filled their battery pack last night.

Currently in second place, Bochum has used nearly double the external energy of Eindhoven to Alice Springs -- 44 kWh -- and are using that energy to catch up and then push far ahead of the pace, arriving in Alice Springs more than an hour ahead of what’s required. This could be part of a strategy to reach sunshine sooner (to reduce external energy use), or the team could be counting on the ability to drive slower later in the event and run more efficiently that way. Either way, Bochum’s large battery and daily charging (so far) has led to a large external energy use.

The clear leader in this event continues to be Eindhoven, arriving precisely on the pace in Alice Springs, having carried five people all the way from Darwin (7465 person-km), and having the second lowest external energy in the remaining field.  

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