A team of engineers from Australia are claiming a new world record for their Sunswift 7 electric car. The solar-powered car recently completed a test cycle in which it traveled 1,000 km on a single charge in less than 12 hours.

Sunswift 7 electric car weighs only 500 kg. That’s about a quarter of the mass of a typical Tesla car. In order to fit into such a small weight limit, engineers had to abandon the air conditioning system, ABS brakes, airbags, wipers and other features common to production cars. Instead, engineers focused on aerodynamic efficiency and rolling resistance. If the Tesla Model S has a drag coefficient of 0.208, the Sunswift 7 has a drag coefficient of only 0.095.

The team spent two years creating the Sunswift 7, with the goal of setting a Guinness World Record and demonstrating the fastest solar-powered electric car that can cover a distance of more than 1,000 km. An attempt to set the record was recently made at the Highway Circuit test track at the Australian Automotive Research Centre, when the Sunswift 7 completed 240 laps on a single charge.

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It took 11 hours, 53 minutes and 32 seconds to cover the 1,000-kilometer distance, with an average speed of 85 km/h. Drivers changed every few hours. On the way to the finish line, the team had to solve several problems: battery management and a flat tire.

So far, the Sunswift 7 is unofficially considered to be the fastest electric car that covers more than 1000 km. without recharging. The team is awaiting official confirmation of the car’s timing and telemetry data to receive a Guinness World Record certificate.

“Within this record, the energy consumption was only 3.8 kWh/100 km, while today even the most efficient electric cars on the road achieve a rating of only 15 kWh/100 km, and the average figure is around 20 kWh/100 km,” said the team leader Professor Richard Hopkins.

Source: newatlas