For commuters worried about rising fuel prices, greenhouse gas emissions and the headache of finding parking, a compact solar-powered vehicle may be the answer -- and could be on the market within a year.
"At a time when carbon emission reduction and fighting global warming are top priorities of governments and people, a wholly solar-powered car would offer a good alternative for the green-minded," the car's research and development team leader, Ay Herchang (
A prototype of the car was inspired by the Apollo, a solar car Ay and a team at National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences built to compete in races such as the Australian World Solar Challenge (WSC), the professor of engineering said.
GRAPHIC COURTESY OF NATIONAL KAOHSIUNG UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCI
"As [our team] has done quite well in the past 10 years at international solar car races -- this year ranking second out of more than 50 cars at the WSC -- we decided two years ago to broaden our advanced solar technology applications and make a car for the consumer market," he said.
The WSC, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, requires participants to race solar-powered vehicles 3,000km across various Australian terrains, he said.
Several obstacles had to be overcome to turn the one-seater solar race car capable of speeds up to 145kph, into a domestic consumer vehicle, he said.
"With added seats and passengers, the car was bigger and heavier, which compromised its speed," he said, adding that driving on the nation's highways would be out of the picture.
A light-weight model is best, Ay said, as it requires less battery power to maintain speed. When there is a lack of sunlight, the car runs on a solar-charged battery.
The final product of the team's tweaking is a 250kg two to three-seater that travels at up to 70kph and comes with a price tag of about NT$800,000, he said. At 3m by 1.3m, it's easy to park, too.
The battery can be charged with just a few hours sunlight and can power the car for three hours.
On vehicle safety, Ay said: "Parts of the car will be made with Nomex honeycomb, a material widely used in aircraft and aerospace components for its high strength, excellent impact and fire resistance as well as its light weight."
Though solar-powered city roamers have already debuted on some European markets, the made-in-Taiwan version is half the weight and costs half the price, Ay said.
"Moreover, in Taiwan, with our abundance of sunlight, this car is a viable solution for us to save gas and the environment," Ay said.
NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom has taken to social media to urge Jeremy Lin (林書豪) to “stand with Taiwan” and stop taking “dirty Chinese Communist Party money.” “Haven’t you had enough of that Dirty Chinese Communist Party money feeding you to stay silent?” Freedom wrote on Facebook and Twitter on Sunday. The 29-year-old Boston Celtics center, who took a new surname when he became a US citizen on Monday last week, urged Lin: “Stand with Taiwan! Stop bowing to money & the Dictatorship.” Lin, a US citizen of Taiwanese descent who last year obtained a Taiwanese passport, has not responded to Freedom. Lin is
PAST CATCHING UP: Raphael Lin was last year convicted of intimidating his girlfriend at the time, and in 2015 allegedly confined his parents and assaulted his mother Doctoral student and media commentator Raphael Lin (林秉樞) is in detention and has had his communication rights limited after he was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly subjecting Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) to two days of violence in a hotel room, the New Taipei District Court said yesterday. The New Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office had filed a request to detain Lin — who was Kao’s boyfriend at the time of the incident — with the court approving the request early yesterday. The prosecutors’ office said that it is likely to charge Lin with seven offenses: assault causing bodily harm, violating
A COVID-19 vaccine trial carried out in Taiwan has found that a combination of the AstraZeneca and the locally developed Medigen vaccines is more effective than two doses of AstraZeneca, the research team said on Saturday. The trial, which was initiated by Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, examined 100 people aged 22 to 62 divided into two groups: One group was vaccinated with two AstraZeneca doses, while the other received a first dose of AstraZeneca and a second dose of Medigen, team leader Chen Chih-jung (陳志榮) said. The geometric mean titers (GMTs) of neutralizing antibodies in the mix-and-match group after 10 days were
Toads are a symbol of prosperity and good fortune in Taiwan, but the unexpected discovery of an invasive species has officials and environmentalists scrambling to contain their spread. With flashlights in hand and shielded by protective gloves, dozens of volunteers from the Taiwan Amphibian Conservation Society worked through the night searching rice fields and vegetable plots for their quarry — the cane toad. There should be no reason for these large and highly toxic amphibians to exist in Caotun (草屯), a township in the foothills of the central mountain range. Cane toads are indigenous to South and Central America, and while they have
RSS