Solar power drives green machine

A CLEAN, LIGHT, SOLAR-ELECTRIC concept car called the UltraCommuter will use 83% less fuel and emit 87% less greenhouse gases than a Holden Commodore.

While they just unveiled a foam model of the hybrid car at the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, Australia, students from the University of Queensland's

Two electric motors, one in each rear wheel, powered by a lithium ion battery pack, will drive the car, said UltraCommuter coordinator Dr. Geoff Walker.

The vehicle will have a driving range of 500 kilometers (310 miles) with the addition of a gas tank and a top speed of 150 kilometers an hour (90 mph), Dr. Walker said.

Filling the car with fuel would be as easy as parking in the sun to recharge the battery pack using the 2.5 square meters of transparent solar cells on the bonnet and back windscreen.

A summer day would "top-up" the battery pack by about 50 kilometers. And if there is no sun, just plug the car into a home power point and recharge it overnight.

The car would weigh about 600 kilograms (1,320 pounds) thanks to an aluminum and carbon-fiber body designed for its low drag aerodynamics including wheel covers to cut down wheel drag.

"It's not too radical. It's still a twoseater car that people can sit in and commute in and get quite dramatic improvements in economy," Dr Walker said."We're aiming for under two liters per 100 kilometers, which is about a five or six-fold reduction on your average car." He added they could boost the car's top speed at the sacrifice of acceleration.