An Australian solar-powered car built by university students and weighing a quarter that of a Tesla has clocked 1,000 km in under 12 hours on a single charge, claiming a provisional Guiness world record.
The Sunswift 7 car, out of University of New South Wales Sydney, posted a time of 11 hours 53.32 minutes for the distance at the Australian Automotive Research Centre south of Melbourne.
That equates to an average speed of nearly 85km per hour and unofficially secured the Sunswift racing team the record for the ‘Fastest EV over 1,000km on a single charge’
The official honour – and Guinness World Record certificate – will be conferred once timing information and car telemetry data has been analysed and confirmed by a team of experts.
Sunswift team manager Andrea Holden, a UNSW mechanical engineering student, said it “feels weird” to help make something regarded as a world’s best
“Two years ago, when we started to build this car, everything was going into lockdown and there were a lot of difficult moments,” Holden said. “It was a lot of work and a lot of hours and a lot of stress, but it’s all been worth it.”Au
