Cruiser Class
PRODUCTION CARS POWERED BY THE SUN
Cruiser Class entrants build advanced concept cars that test ideas that may come to market one day. Cruiser Class cars must be practical, seat a minimum of two people and manage their energy requirements over 1000 km stages. As a Regularity Trail they must keep pace and meet strict time targets. During the event they will be part of experiments conducted by Australia's peak scientific body CSIRO, measuring the impact of electric vehicles on the electricity supply network.
Once in Adelaide Cruiser Class teams must present their cars to a panel of judges who will award a 'practicality' score, thus emulating the real-world problem industrial designers face every day.
The 2023 design parameters for Crusier Class solar cars:
Max. Length: 5m
Max. Width: 2.2m
Max. Solar Array: 5m2
Wheels: At least 4
Driver: 1+ At least 1 passenger
Stages: 3 x 1,200km with out charging
What do we observe from Cruiser Class entries?
With determinants of success including payload, energy consumption and a subjective element of ‘practicality’, entrants are faced with the real-world challenge faced by designers around the world: what will end user (in this case guest judges) find attractive, and give the design a desirable point of difference?
