CHILE: Students from across Latin America prepare for solar car race in Chilean desert

Record ID: 310630

  • Title: CHILE: Students from across Latin America prepare for solar car race in Chilean desert
  • Date: 27th September 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PUERTO RICAN STUDENT GABRIEL RIVERA SAYING: "We are a group of engineering students from the Polytechnical Institute of Puerto Rico. We decided to make this car as part of our graduation project. We started designing it from nothing. We drew up plans, doing it all from nothing." OTHER SOLAR CARS SOLAR CAR BY MEXICAN STUDENTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICAN STUDENT ALEJANDRO MARTINEZ SAYING: "The panels control the charge, which is then sent to the battery and the batteries have a direct current to the motor, 1.5 horse power engine with a maximum of 25 to 30 miles per hour (40 to 50 kilometers per hour). It is also helped along by the driver, which makes it a little faster." VARIOUS OF CARS AND PEOPLE LOOKING AT PROTOTYPES SOLAR CAR IN MOTION
  • Embargoed: 12th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Chile, Chile
  • Country: Chile
  • Topics: Sports,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVAEDPQN49UHAE14B65KI3I368JK
  • Story Text: Chile prepared Sunday (September 25, 2011) to kick off Latin America's first solar-powered rally, a race through the Atacama desert with cars designed by students from across the region.
    The prominent solar panels on these vehicles will soak up the sun in the inhospitable Atacama, the world's driest desert which sits in the far north of the country.
    Students trucked their prototypes in from as far away as Puerto Rico to compete in the event.
    Chilean Energy Minister Rodrigo Alvarez said the event would contribute to knowledge in the field in power-strapped Chile.
    "I would like to congratulate everyone participating in this, the first solar car race in Latin America, the Atacama Solar Challenge. I would like first to congratulate the students participating in this activity, which will allow us to contribute to science, contributing knowledge for the development of new forms of energy that our country needs," he said.
    Puerto Rican student Gabriel Rivera and his classmates proudly displayed their car.
    "We are a group of engineering students from the Polytechnical Institute of Puerto Rico. We decided to make this car as part of our graduation project. We started designing it from nothing. We drew up plans, doing it all from nothing," Rivera said.
    The pace of the Atacama challenge will be considerably slower than the Dakar rally, which has run through the South American desert in recent years after being driven out of Africa.
    The more subdued race has an eye a sustainable future, not speeding through the desert.
    Mexican engineering student Alejandro Martinez said their car tops at 30 miles per hour, and that's with the driver helping out.
    "The panels control the charge, which is then sent to the battery and the batteries have a direct current to the motor, 1.5 horse power engine with a maximum of 25 to 30 miles per hour (40 to 50 kilometers per hour). It is also helped along by the driver, which makes it a little faster," he said.
    The three-day race starts on September 30 andOctober 2, covering 760 miles (1060 km).
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