Solar-powered car arrives in Fairbanks en route to record
Published Thursday, August 14, 2008
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — A solar-powered car on three wheels arrived in Fairbanks on Wednesday evening, creating a spectacle as the spaceship-like vehicle made its way down the Johansen Expressway to the Cold Climate Housing Research Center.
Behind the wheel was Marcelo da Luz, a Canadian who is trying to break the world record for driving distance in a solar car while bringing attention to alternative energy.
Cathy Egan described the scene as her husband spoke to da Luz via two-way radio, guiding him to the research center. The Egans install solar panels for a living.
“There’s a person next to us who has two little kids in the car, and the kids are just looking, watching the car,” Egan said. “They have big smiles on their faces. There’s people honking their horns, and there’s just people slowing down and looking. It’s the coolest thing.”
The journey began on June 12 in Buffalo, N.Y., according to the Web site www.xof1.com, where regular dispatches are posted.
Two days later, a LaGrange, Ind., family came home to find the futuristic vehicle on its front lawn.
In Chicago, police stopped da Luz and his support crew to take photographs of the car. In Wisconsin, they made the 10 o’clock news. After crossing into Minnesota, da Luz was stopped by the state patrol and cited for failing to carry commercial vehicle documentation.
The team traveled through Canada, hitting Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton.
After arriving in the Yukon in mid-July, they made their way through Whitehorse and Dawson City and up the Dempster Highway, which is comparable to the Alaska’s Dalton Highway, and ends at the Arctic Ocean town of Inuvik in the Northwest Territories.
Their last post, on Friday, had the team back in Dawson City and making plans for an Alaska detour.
Greg Egan, whose company is Remote Power Inc., heard about da Luz from a client in Tok and persuaded him to visit Fairbanks.
“I just told them that there are a lot of people in Fairbanks interested in this kind of stuff,” Egan said.
Da Luz and his crew spent a night in Tok and in Delta Junction, according to the Egans and John Davies, research director at the cold climate center.
En route to Fairbanks, they stopped to make welding repairs, changed a flat tire and were pulled over by Alaska State Troopers. Davies did not know if they were cited.
Davies, a former state legislator, is hosting the team at his home and a press conference is scheduled for this morning.
The current solar car distance record is 8,112 miles, set by an Australian team in January 2002. If da Luz returns to Buffalo as scheduled, the car will break the current record by more than 2,000 miles.
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DNM, do you have any pictures of this car posted?
the wesite is www.xof1.com
ha ha ha it got a ticket in minnesota. yup that sounds like the minnesota i know. so... when is this car going to be available commercially?
But how well does it run in winter?
My daughter-in-law was laughing her head off when she saw it coming down the road at her. She was on the phone to me and trying to figure out "what in the world was that!". Nice to see in the DNM an article. Thanks!
My girls were like what is that, who's riding?
I was like, where is that person driving that thing?, My girls were like "right there I could see him driving it!" My girls were amazed by that little vehicle. We just happen to be on Johansen by the stop light... That was the first thing we notice when we stopped...
All of our eyes were on that whatever you want to call it.
We call it the space ship car!! Actually my girls name it..
Any pictures?
It's a Good Thing he didn't try to drive it here in the Winter-Time, with ALL the Sunshine we get ! (Grins)
I was at the demonstration. It was very interesting...and I got pictures. *smile*
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