(picture courtesy of UofC Solar Car Team’s twitter page @UofCSolarTeam)
Something unusual is heading up Highway 63 today – and it’s not another megaload.
A solar car from the University of Calgary called the Schulich Delta is scheduled to head into town.
Project manager Suzie Kubik says it’s unique because it’s a more consumer-friendly four-door car.
“That’s really why we built Delta, it’s because we found that people were asking ‘when can I drive something like this?'” She continues, “Shulich Delta really is at the point for us to say, ‘well, you know what? You could drive something like this tomorrow.'”
“Its going to be a race car, absolutely. It’ll be a contender at the World Solar Car Challenge in October,” she says.
Unlike previous one-seaters, this one is their first four-door solar car.
Kubik says, “it’s also kind of pushing our design one step more towards making solar powered vehicles a reality for the everyday consumer.”
She says it’s a more practical four-door car, which shows how solar cars are getting closer to the mass market.
“Well, I think the technology’s got to catch up with the cost and the feasibility. So, I think it’ll be a couple of years,” she adds, “we might start to see power being integrated into our secondary systems on the car, and then, eventually I think that we could see it.”
It’s scheduled to stop at Greely Road and Beacon Hill schools.
May 9th, 2013
