Solar energy in Formula 1
Two weeks ago week a team of approximately 60 students from the University of New South Wales broke the Guinness World Land Speed Record for solar powered vehicles. Their car, named the Sunswift IVy, represents a step forward in affordable solar transport and brings the technology closer to being introduced into the top levels of motorsport.
The Sunswift
The Sunswift IVy is the fourth car built by the team from the University of New South Wales and was originally designed to race in the 2009 World Solar Challenge. It broke the land speed record by reaching 88kph, and although that falls a long way short of Formula One speeds, it doesn’t truly represent the ultimate performance of solar powered cars. The Guinness World Record regulations state that cars can only be powered by solar cells and nothing else. Like most solar cars, the Sunswift uses its cells to charge a battery which then delivers power to the wheels, but this battery had to be removed for the record attempt. The car could only make use of the immediate energy from the sun and this was particularly significant for the Sunswift team as their world beating run took place on a cloudy day. With the battery in use the car is capable of more than 100kph.
It’s also significant to note the Sunswift uses silicon solar cells. These are the cheapest most readily available cells and are nowhere near as efficient as the more expensive gallium arsenide versions used in many other high performance solar cars.
The Sunswift’s world record is a fantastic achievement, and whilst there is a long way to go before solar power is ever used in Formula One, it may one day have a place in the sport’s environmentally friendly future.
Solar Power
Solar Power works by converting sunlight into electricity. Solar cells are built with materials (such as silicon) that trap photons from light rays which then pass their energy onto electrons. These electrons move from their usual position and flow into an electrical current. This ‘photovoltaic’ process was first discovered as far back as 1893 but was refined for practical use during the space race fifty years ago.
The first solar powered car was built in 1955 by General Motors but it wasn’t anything more than a demonstrative experiment as the entire vehicle was only 15 inches long. The first regular sized solar car appeared seven years later in 1962 when the International Rectifier Company converted a Baker electric car to run off photovoltaic panels.
Solar Powered Motorsport
Many solar cars have little application outside of competition events and there are a large number of solar races around the world. Most of these are rallies that last several days and cover thousands of kilometres across public roads.
Solar powered racing started in 1985 with the first running of the Tour De Sol in Switzerland. The five day rally attracted 72 entrants and was held every year until 1993. Since then, the World Solar Challenge in Australia and the North American Solar Challenge have become the premier events on the solar racing calendar. In addition to these two major races, there is also the new South African Solar Challenge which started in 2008 and is sanctioned by the FIA.
These large multi day events attract the best international teams, but there are many other smaller races that take place around the world. One such example is the annual Dream Cup track race which is held at the Suzuka Grand Prix Circuit.
The teams that run solar powered cars are highly professional and make use of the latest electronics, aerodynamic concepts, and bi-directional telemetry. In 2005, the cars they built had become so fast they were easily breaking highway speed limits and their support vehicles couldn’t keep up. The rules for the main solar races were changed in order to slow the cars and increase their total efficiency, as well as to introduce road relevant factors such as profiled tyres. Despite this, the last winner of the Wold Solar Challenge from Tokai University in Japan had a top speed of 160kph.
The implications for Formula One
Solar technology has huge potential. The University of New South Wales built the Sunswift IVy on a budget on just $280,000. Imagine what the world’s best automotive engineers could achieve in a Formula One team with a much larger budget and the backing of a major car manufacturer.
As the FIA pushes to make Formula One more environmentally responsible, starting with more efficient engines in 2013, solar power is one technology that may have a future in the sport.
Solar energy will never be the primary source of power on a Grand Prix car (it would certainly make for a shambolic night race in Singapore). However, giving Formula One teams the freedom to use solar cells to charge batteries that provide extra power to the drivetrain, similar to KERS, would be a great way to encourage development of the technology in the automotive industry.
KERS had a troubled introduction in 2009 because the power it offered didn’t compensate for its extra weight. Most teams opted to run without the system and solar technology would face the exact same problem. The power generated by the Sunswift is less than 5% of the power produced by KERS, meaning that solar energy is currently nowhere near strong enough to be applicable in Formula One.
This could change in the not-too-distant future with newer more efficient solar cells.
US Scientists recently developed a new type of solar panel that uses tiny micrometre rods of silicon. In theory, these incredibly small rods can trap more sunlight and increase the efficiency of photovoltaic cells from their current levels of 30% to 85%. It’s a massive breakthrough in solar technology.
In addition to this, Toyota is currently developing a new highly advanced type of lithium-ion battery for use in their future hybrid cars. Their concept is a smaller lighter battery that can store ten times the amount of power which would solve many of the problems associated with electric cars and their limited battery life.
These new developments are still in their infancy and it could be five or ten years before they’re commercially available. However, once they find their way onto a solar powered vehicle, or a hybrid road car as anticipated by Toyota, it might be a good time for the FIA to get involved.
Introducing solar energy into Formula One
Should the FIA move to introduce a new technology like solar power into Formula One, it might be in the sport’s best interest to give the teams maximum freedom in the regulations to harness as much energy as possible. This would encourage engineers to develop different solutions to the problem of integrating lightweight panels into the car’s design, and efficiently transferring the cell’s energy into the drivetrain.
Turbocharged engines were made legal through regulation changes in 1966, but it wasn’t until 1977 that Renault took up the challenge of building one. As soon as the turbo was proven to be a competitive option, all of Renault’s closest rivals followed their lead. The same situation may occur if supplementary solar power is introduced into Formula One, provided that teams face no restrictions in seeking an innovative new advantage.
One day the internal combustion engine will be a museum piece and Formula One will be very different to what it is today. The long term future of Grand Prix racing relies on renewable energy sources, and solar power is one technology that could one day form part of the sport’s environmental solution.