MONTREAL - Some Montreal-area students are hoping that their solar powered car can impress in an upcoming race.
The Esteban Six delegation from Polytechnique Montreal will compete in the American solar challenge, a 2,700 kilometre race across the United States.
The car took three years to build and is the only Canadian car in the race.
The team is focused on impressing while carrying the flag for their country.
"It’s a lot of pressure,” said team manager Alexandre Marceau-Gozsy. “We want to represent Canada as best as we can."
The race starts July 14 in Rochester, New York and the winner will advance to another race on July 22 in St. Paul Minnesota.
Electrical reliability will be the big challenge as the car must run none stop for six to seven hours a day over eight days.
"Because the duration is so long, we have to guarantee that the car is not going to break down every two or three hours," said team mechanic Jonathan de Belle who helped design the car's electrical system as closely as possible to a normal car.
The car can zoom to 120 kilometres-per-hour but will be coasting at around 70 kmh at the American Solar Challenge.
"It’s what we estimate to be the speed at which the solar panels will be fully used in order to drive the car and the battery would be slightly discharged,” said Jonathan de Belle
They're not intimidated by their tough American competitors, who have plenty of experience.
"We look at the performance we have with this vehicle and we're really proud,” said Marceau-Gozsy. “It’s probably one of the best performances we ever had with a solar vehicle at Polytechnique of Montreal.
