Australian university students break a 26-year-old world record, laying claim to the fastest electric vehicle over 500 km (311 miles) on a single battery charge.
The Sunswift eVe from the University of New South Wales achieved an average speed of 62.1 mph (100 km/h), bettering the previous world record of 45.36 mph (73 km/h).
The vehicle was put to the test on a 2.6-mile (4.2-km) circular track at the Australian Automotive Research Center, 30 miles (50 km) outside Geelong, Victoria.
The 60-member team of university undergraduate students says no definitive numbers will be issued until the record officially is approved by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, world motorsport's governing body.
The vehicle is the fifth to be built and raced since the team was founded in 1996.
Earlier versions of the Sunswift set world records for the fastest solar-powered road trip from Perth to Sydney and a Guinness World Record for the fastest solar car.
Project director and third-year engineering student Hayden Smith says the team hopes the car’s record performance proves it is ready for day-to-day practical use.
“This record was about establishing a whole new level of single-charge travel for high-speed electric vehicles, which we hope will revolutionize the electric car industry,” Smith says in a statement.
"Five hundred kilometers is pretty much as far as a normal person would want to drive in a single day,” he says. “It's another demonstration that one day you could be driving our car.”
The Sunswift team expects the car to meet Australian road registration requirements within a year and previously has said its zero-emission solar and battery storage systems symbolize a new era of sustainable driving.
The team has enlisted industrial designers at the university to rework the car's interior in preparation for the application for road-legal status.
The car uses solar panels on the roof and hood to charge a 132-lb. (60-kg) battery. However, the panels were switched off during the world-record attempt, leaving the car to run solely on the battery charge.
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