Solar Ute 19th October 2019

  • Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows
  • 2019:10:19 20:15:31
  • 0.006 s (1/160) (1/160)
  • f/9.0
  • 100
  • 2019:10:19 14:31:45
  • 1.48m
  • No
  • 24.00 (24/1)
image

Shot Notes

This Solar Ute is the most unique vehicle at the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. I arrived in Adelaide just after the last team crossed the finish line. Fortunately, the lovely people from Tafe SA were good enough to give their car a push so I could get this photo. When leaving Darwin this prime mover was attached to a 7-metre trailer with 14 square metres of solar cells which provides an extra 2.8kw of power to the Ute. Weighing in at 1.4 tonnes it is the heaviest and longest solar automobile. The team overcame many hurdles to get here. During track testing, they blew up one of the motor controllers so the 11.5-metre articulated vehicle was being pulled by just one wheel. This created so much heat that during the race they built an ingenious cooling system with a CO2 fire extinguisher.

Ute-Trailer

I have a few repairs of my own to do on the van before heading back to the Blue Mountains.

The finish line image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Editorial Stock Photography and is available for download here and top view.

2 Responses to “Solar Ute”

  1. 1
    Mark:

    True story and really great pictures thanks Jason. Would love to use that top view pic

  2. 2
    Jason Benz:

    No problem, I will send you a copy.

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