Solar-Powered Car

[Abby Brown] The sun is shining and it's a beautiful day to visit the home of the Cyclones. I'm excited and full of energy because today I get to meet Team PrISUm from ISU! They are building a vehicle that is powered by the sun.

[Doug Zuercher] So this is the PrISUm solar car team's 15th solar car right here.

[Abby] You get the million dollar question of the day; tell me exactly how we get energy from the sun and it ends up powering this car.

[Doug] Yeah, so it's really complicated, but in a nutshell; You've got this nuclear energy up there in the sun.

[Abby] Wait nuclear from the sun?

[Doug] Nuclear in the sun nuclear energy is a completely natural phenomenon that happens, it can be safe, it doesn't always have to be bad.

[Abby] Okay and then it goes to...

[Doug] It goes to the solar cells and in the solar cells we turn it into electrical energy.

[Abby] Okay.

[Doug] We then push that into our batteries right here.

[Abby] Through wires?

[Doug] Through wires, yep.

[Abby] Okay, it travels from the cells through wires to the battery which is deep inside the car.

[Doug] Correct, and that's potential energy there. It's sitting there it's energy we can use it any time such as when it's cloudy.

[Abby] Okay.

[Doug] And then when we're ready, when you push on the gas pedal, we take that energy and we transfer it to the motors back here.

[Abby] Okay.

[Doug] And that becomes kinetic energy because they start moving and the car gets movement forward.

[Abby] Wow!

[Michael Holm] As we walk around a little bit here, Eliana has a very aerodynamic sleek shape.

[Abby] Wait the car has a name?

[Michael] Yep the car's name is Eliana

[Abby] Oh I love it, okay!

[Michael] We're looking at a top speed of around 50 to 55. Exterior of our car is made of a material called carbon fiber.

[Abby] Okay, why carbon fiber?

[Michael] Carbon fiber is extremely lightweight and it's also very strong for how lightweight it is. Being lightweight makes it easier to accelerate, makes it easier to make the car faster, makes it easier to stop the car at a stop sign.

[Abby] We're not even using gas we're using solar power so why is solar power better than gasoline?

[Michael] So I'm sure a lot of you have heard about fossil fuels, and and the non-renewable energies, and how it's starting to really take an effect on our ecosystem and the environment. So solar energy is a renewable resource. A renewable resource is essentially we can't use it fast enough to cut down on how much is available to us.  

[Abby] So as long as the sun is shining we'll have solar energy, right?

[Michael] Yep.

[Abby] What happens on a cloudy day?

[Michael] So on a cloudy day, that's when our battery pack starts to come into effect. We do still get some charge from our cells, but much less and we have to rely much more on our batteries.

[Michael] So as we get into the inside of this car this is the driver's seat, here's our steering wheel. And on our steering wheel we have buttons for our horn, our left turn signal, our right turn signal, cruise control, our car does have cruise control.

[Abby] That's great!

[Michael] So our solar cells all come into this box right here, and this box contains all of our batteries, and that's what the solar cells charge. And then the batteries are running everything in this car. They're running the the backup camera, they're running the speedometer, they're running all the boards that go into running this car, they're running the motors when we're driving the car, everything. The range of our car, if we were to not have solar cells, or say it would be really cloudy or something like that, we're looking at a range of around 500 miles. And then with our solar cells that starts to push that range way up.

[Abby] Okay. Can it collect more power as you're driving or do you pretty much store it and then use it?

[Michael] No, it can collect more power while we're running.

[Abby] Okay.

[Michael] Yeah really just as long as we're in the sun we're collecting charge. And then here we have a speaker and we have a speaker on the other side as well so if you ever want to bump some music while you're driving a solar car.

[Abby] Of course you do, that's great.

[Michael] And then there's a cup holder right here for the driver and then there'll be a cup holder on the other side as well.

[Abby] So the solar car is obviously very awesome but I'm wondering, does it have an impact on the environment?

[Brandt Damman] Yes it does have an impact on the environment. Our positive impact towards the environment is we're using a renewable energy source such as our sun. We are you know collecting light, producing into electricity, and then powering our vehicle off of it. We do have an unfortunate negative impact which is those solar cells themselves. The cells themselves are not a renewable source. We use silicon, which is a non-renewable element in our world, and we have to use that to produce cells themselves.

[Abby] Since the sun is shining so bright it seems like the perfect opportunity for a tour in the ISU PrISUm solar car. Would you mind?

[Announcer] Funding for FIND Iowa has been provided by the following supporters.

(text on screen Find Iowa, Coons Foundation, Pella, Gilchrist Foundation)

(text on screen Iowa PBS Education)