SUNSWIFT: 25 NOVEMBER 2016

World’s fastest long-range electric car to call at Molong

Sunswift eVe — the world’s fastest long-range electric car — will include stop in Molong as part of a regional outreach tour across NSW next week, with visits to Port Macquarie, Armidale, Tamworth, Coonabarabran, Dubbo, Orange and Bathurst also included.

Following an approach from Molong Online, the Sunswift team will travel down Bank Street and stop briefly at Molong Railway Station for photographs next Thursday, 1 December, at about 5pm.

A sleek two-seater sports coupé, eVe — built by engineering students at the Solar Racing Team Sunswift at the University of New South Wales in Sydney — has twice represented Australia at the World Solar Challenge, a gruelling 3021-kilometre race.

In 2014, eVe took out the world land-speed record for an electric vehicle, travelling at an average 100km/h over a distance of 500 kilometres on a single charge. This toppled a record which had stood for 26 years, and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile recognised the team with a world-record trophy.

It is the fifth race car built by Sunswift since the team was founded in 1995, hence the capital V (for the Roman numeral 5) in its name.

eVe can travel up to 500 kilometres on a single charge of its batteries, or over 800 kilometres if powered by its solar cells as well.

Once depleted, the batteries can be recharged in 10 hours on a household power socket, or in less than seven hours using a commercial charging station.

It costs around 80 cents to fuel the car for every 100 kilometres, compared to an average $15 for a conventional petrol car.

During next week, the Sunswift crew will visit schools in Armidale, Tamworth, Coonabarabran, Dubbo and Orange and display the car, make presentations and pose for photos with kids. They will also give hands-on workshops on how to build miniature solar cars, as well as and talks on solar power and engineering.

The car will be at Dubbo Public School from 9am to 3pm on Thursday 1 December and Orange Anglican Grammar School from 9am to 3pm .on Friday 2 December.