Solar-powered car driving for bigger world record set in Alaska, somebody called police concerning an unidentified flying object on the road. Motorists rotate around to snap pictures. The Power of One, a solar-powered car that has been mountaineering across North America on three wheels, stopped Tuesday at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Da Luz drives on his back; toes pointed ahead, his mug out from end to end the window of a hump on the top. He steers with handlebars that look like they belong on a motorcycle. The car has no rearview mirror. Instead, a camera behind him transmits to a tiny screen mounted on his sunglasses. It hasn't been an easy journey. Gloomy skies trapped him for a month in Vancouver. Last month, in New Orleans, thieves broke into the support van following him.
Creator and driver Marcelo da Luz is out to expand the world record for distance traveled in a solar car that he formerly set. He has been on the road for 11 months. The trip started in Buffalo, N.Y., and will take him to Key West, then a return to his resident Canada.
The car "can take a trip more than 300 miles on a sun-drenched day, go from 0 to 50 mph in six seconds and has a top speed of 75 mph," notes Green Car Congress and spending $2.20 on a gallon of gas. But da Luz thought to keep going, because he "wants to motivate people. He wants people to understand that a car like his can handle even the 450-mile gravel road stretching across the Arctic Circle."
Da Luz drives on his back; toes pointed ahead, his mug out from end to end the window of a hump on the top. He steers with handlebars that look like they belong on a motorcycle. The car has no rearview mirror. Instead, a camera behind him transmits to a tiny screen mounted on his sunglasses. It hasn't been an easy journey. Gloomy skies trapped him for a month in Vancouver. Last month, in New Orleans, thieves broke into the support van following him.
Creator and driver Marcelo da Luz is out to expand the world record for distance traveled in a solar car that he formerly set. He has been on the road for 11 months. The trip started in Buffalo, N.Y., and will take him to Key West, then a return to his resident Canada.
The car "can take a trip more than 300 miles on a sun-drenched day, go from 0 to 50 mph in six seconds and has a top speed of 75 mph," notes Green Car Congress and spending $2.20 on a gallon of gas. But da Luz thought to keep going, because he "wants to motivate people. He wants people to understand that a car like his can handle even the 450-mile gravel road stretching across the Arctic Circle."
