Wind Powered Car Crosses Australia

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Wind Powered Car Crosses Australia

Postby pimptastic » Fri Mar 04, 2011 3:37 pm

Kitesurfers Dirk Gion and Stefan Simmerer had an incredible idea. Let's build a 200-kilogram car that is, at the same time, a kitesurfing craft and a wind turbine.

Meet the "Wind Explorer", a powerful convertible that has crossed the Australian continent in 18 days. That's a 3,000-mile trip that only needed £10 of electricity to complete the challenge.

There's no gas or gasoline involved. The "windmobile" uses light-weight Lithium-Ion rechargeable batteries and gets the best cross winds to travel 420 kilometres by steerable kites, in total.

The "Wind Explorer" is so efficient that the little wind turbine carried aboard can produce enough energy for a daily distance of 250 to 400 kilometers.

The journey has begun in Albany (south of Perth), Australia's southwest-most point. From there the route followed the south coast through the Nullarbor plain, Adelaide and Melbourne, all the way to Sydney on the Pacific Ocean.

Every day, the environmentally-friendly car is able to cover 200 to 490-kilometer legs. So far, the "Wind Explorer" has already beaten several records: long distance covered thoughly independent of external energy sources or fuels, a continent cross by vehicles powered solely by wind energy and electricity and a wind-powered vehicle covering a distance of 493,5 km, within 36 hours.

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Re: Wind Powered Car Crosses Australia

Postby dingo » Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:18 pm

eh, is it me or are they driving on the wrong side of the road??
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