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By Richard King
U.S. Department of Energy |
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EDMOND, OKLA., July 15, 2003 - The ASC started fresh at 9 a.m. from Rolla, Mo., on the second and longest leg to Albuquerque, N.M. Waterloo led the pack. Minnesota left Rolla a minute later, only 14 seconds behind Waterloo in the overall standings. It was a good start in sunny weather and a very partisan crowd cheered loudly for the two Missouri teams - University of Missouri-Rolla and University of Missouri-Columbia.
A couple of teams started late. Purdue was waiting for a new motor controller to come by FedEx. They left only 40 minutes late.
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| Photo contributed by Richard King |
| A partisan crowd in Joplin, Mo., cheers the University of Missouri-Columbia car, Suntiger V, as it leaves the checkpoint. |
Stanford repaired its burnt-out parts and was rolling just after Purdue. The University of Pennsylvania sped off just ahead of Stanford. McGill was still checking its battery pack when I left about 10:10 a.m.
Bad luck for the leader. Waterloo blew its motor just outside of Springfield, Mo., about halfway to the Joplin, Mo., checkpoint. Soon after replacing the motor, the car hit a pothole, knocking its steering way out of alignment. The team had to stop a second time for repairs. When they finally pulled into Joplin, they were more than 30 minutes behind the leaders.
Here are the times as they came in while I was there:
| Missouri-Rolla |
1:20 p.m. |
| Missouri-Columbia |
1:26 p.m. |
| Principia |
1:29 p.m. (surprise!) |
| Minnesota |
1:33 p.m. |
| Kansas State |
1:35 p.m. |
| Queens |
1:44 p.m. (finally performing as designed!) |
| Western Michigan |
1:46 p.m. |
| Waterloo |
2:16 p.m. |
Please visit the standings page for more complete results.
As I sit in my hotel room tonight in Edmond, I hear the teams are just 20 to 50 miles from the next checkpoint here. I did see the Western Michigan scout, who told me WMU had passed all the teams ahead of them except the two Missouri teams. The scout said the teams were slowing down to 40-45 mph because of clouds. Western Michigan, however, said they were maintaining 55 mph.
The ASC is proving to be very competitive and unpredictable.
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| Photo contributed by Richard King |
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Team members from McGill University inspect their lithium ion battery pack.
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Race Pushing Battery Envelope
Batteries! If you are into batteries, the ASC is for you. The race is pushing the R&D path, pushing the envelope, as they say . . . only "the envelope" is getting smaller. Today's ASC cars are using batteries that are more compact, lighter and that have more energy density.
I wish I had a picture of the lead acid batteries all the solar cars used back in 1990 - eight or nine heavy batteries that must have weighed more than 300 pounds. The racecars struggled to carry all that weight. The average speed of the 1990 race was about 20 mph.
Today the average speed is pushing 50 mph, and several of the cars can maintain a steady 60 mph. Why? Because battery technology is so much better. Most of the solar cars out here are using lithium ion technology. Smaller, lighter (50-60 pounds) with much better cycle efficiency from charged to discharged state to recharged state and many more cycles, extending the life of the battery.
The McGill team pulled out their lithium battery pack to check it out Tuesday morning at the Rolla checkpoint, so I had a chance to take pictures of the latest in battery technology.
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REPORTS FROM THE ROAD
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