By David Farrier
The country's first road-worthy solar-powered car hit the highway today, and it's a real piece of Kiwi ingenuity.
Built by engineering students at Waikato University, the car will be joined on the road by a rather more expensive, solar-powered car from Germany, as both cars head to Bluff.
The prototype of the car is charged from a separate unit in a support car that gathers solar power during the day. That unit is then plugged into the car to recharge its battery.
“Our car is aimed at the commuter. Going to and from work in a small radius. It can travel around 150 kilometres a day – so anywhere in that range we’re aiming at,” says Waikato uni student, Tim.
Joining them on the road will be a team from a university in Germany.
They have over 100 sponsors and their car, which charges as it drives, cost about half a million dollars to develop.
Both cars aim to travel 1700 kilometres to Bluff and they can both reach speeds of around 100 kilometres an hour.
As 3 News left them today they were both doing about 80k on the motorway.
3 News