Midnight Sun – Waterloo’s Solar Cars and a 15,070 km Record

The name says it all: north of the Arctic Circle the midnight sun never sets in summer, and a solar car could drive day and night. Students at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada chose that dream as their name in 1988. Since then the Midnight Sun Solar Race Team has built a new car every two to three years for the World Solar Challenge and the American Solar Challenge.

The team’s most famous moment had nothing to do with a race. From 7 August to 14 September 2004, Midnight Sun VII drove 15,070 km through the United States and Canada. The trip started at the university’s Davis Centre and went via Vancouver, San Francisco, Houston, Florida, Washington DC, New York City and Halifax to Parliament Hill in Ottawa. It earned a Guinness World Record for the longest journey by a solar electric vehicle, more than double the previous record of 7,044 km. The same car also won an award for its adaptable fairings, which improved its “sailing” in crosswinds.

The cars kept evolving. Midnight Sun X, shown above on a test drive in June 2011, reaches a top speed of 130 km/h and cruises at 80 km/h. It uses SunPower A300 cells, chosen for their excellent price per watt, a good lesson for anyone buying panels for a solar trailer or e-bike. In 2007 one of the team’s cars looked so unusual that locals called radio stations to report a UFO on the highway.

Like most student teams, Midnight Sun is run entirely by students outside their curriculum and funded by sponsors. Its long-distance record also connects it to the Solartaxi and SolarWorld GT world tours.

Technical data

Photos

• Top photo: Jon / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• Midnight Sun VIII, the team's 2005 car. Photo: Tim Trueman / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Sources

• Wikipedia: Midnight Sun Solar Race Team