Driving into the future

A consortium of Australian developers, headed by Swinburne University, has launched a prototype of the country’s first home-grown solar electric hybrid sports car.

Working with Aurora Vehicle Association and SolarX, whose immediate aim is to “strives to be the world’s leading private entity advocating electric vehicles as a realistic mode of transportation” the university has announced a road-ready model of an environmentally friendly two-seat sports car.

The hybrid prototype, which features an electric and solar powered battery engine, was developed by engineering students from the university.

It is a zero emissions vehicle, according to Swinburne Product Design Engineering senior lecturer, Dr Clint Steele.

“As long as the sun is shining the car can keep going,” Steele says. “It’s unique in that we’ve got batteries that do the hard work and the solar panels top them up. It has the ability to make drivers completely independent, so they don’t need to rely on service stations.”

The team are now working on developing the commercial strategy for the vehicle with the assistance of SolarX. While SolarX’s immediate aim is to put Australia’s first fully road-legal solar-electric hybrid car onto Australian roads, CEO Barry Nguyen believes the project has international potential.

“The intellectual property that we develop in these circumstances has the potential to be applied in other areas,” Nguyen says. “There are many countries around the world with unresolved pollution problems crying out for innovative solutions.”

Mr Nguyen has said that the hybrid sports car would be available for limited production. It will also serve as a platform to showcase environmentally-friendly technologies for potential licensing to other companies.

“SolarX will prove that zero- emission cars are a realistic mode of sustainable transportation, reducing the burden on the environment.”

The engineering team working on the project at Swinburne University have reportedly received shares in SolarX Corporation as a reward for their efforts.