Canadian sets distance record in solar car
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 4, 2008 | 3:59 PM ET
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
External Links
(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window)
Toronto native Marcelo da Luz has set a new world distance record by zig-zagging across Canada in his solar-powered car.
Da Luz arrived in Victoria on Thursday, completing a 15,150-kilometre trek that took 140 days. His journey beat out the previous Guiness record of 15,070 kilometres set in 2004 by a team from the University of Waterloo, who themselves beat a mark set by Australians in January 2002 in their native country.
His record has not yet been recognized by Guiness, but da Luz also says he's not done. He is planning to travel down to Seattle and then California and will keep going for as long as he can afford to. Da Luz is funding his journey independently, without any corporate backing.
"I can only go for as long as I have support," he says. "It's a mix between Forrest Gump and Field of Dreams — if you build it they will come and life is like a box chocolates."
The trip started in Toronto and took da Luz to 44 cities and across Canada twice. His car, called the "Power of One" or Xof1, is a single-seat vehicle that looks more like a UFO on the road. The vehicle cost about half a million dollars to build, can travel 200 kilometres on a single charge and has a top speed of about 120 kilometres an hour.
Da Luz started his project in 1999 as an effort to compete in the annual World Solar Challenge across the Australian Outback. He decided instead in 2002 to beat the Australian team's long-distance record.
His trip ran into some difficulties, including a stop in Edmonton on his way to Inuvik this summer when cloudy skies prevented da Luz from charging his car's batteries.
Da Luz said he built his vehicle independently, without corporate sponsorship, in order to demonstrate how one person can make a difference in helping the environment.
"This project presents an opportunity for individuals from various backgrounds to come together to promote the use of clean and sustainable energy and inspire others to do the same," da Luz wrote on his website.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Whitney Houston's body headed home to New Jersey
- Whitney Houston's body was flown out of Los Angeles, and headed to New Jersey, where her family was making arrangements for a funeral at the end of the week. more »
- Mandatory gun sentence struck down by Ontario judge
- An Ontario Superior Court judge has struck down a mandatory minimum sentence for a first offence of possessing a loaded firearm. more »
- Online surveillance critics siding with child porn: Toews
- Critics of a bill that would give law enforcement new powers to access Canadians' electronic communications are aligning themselves with child pornographers, Canada's public safety minister says. more »
- Low vitamin D in womb tied to poor language skills
- Children born to women who had low levels of vitamin D during their pregnancy are more likely to have language problems, a new study suggests. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- Canada dropping the ozone ball, scientists warn
- Leading atmospheric scientists are warning that Canada's cuts to its ozone monitoring program are already having effects on the world's ability to monitor air quality and ozone depletion. more »
- Ban Wi-Fi in classroom, Ontario teachers union urges
- The Ontario English Catholic Teacher's Association says computers in all new schools should be hardwired instead of setting up wireless networks, citing safety concerns. more »
- How to think like a Neanderthal
- A lack of creativity and the inability to innovate may have led to the extinction of the Neanderthals, two researchers argue in a book that aims to get inside the Neanderthal mind. more »
- FBI seeks social media data mining tool
- The U.S. government is seeking software that can mine social media to predict everything from future terrorist attacks to foreign uprisings, according to requests posted online by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Glacier Discovery Walk: Will the visitor centre enhance the view? Feb. 10, 2012 3:17 PM Environment minister Peter Kent has announced the construction of a new Glacier Discovery Walk and visitor centre on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park. It raises the issue of how to balance commercial development in our National Parks against the preservation of the last refuges of wilderness.
Quirks & Quarks
- February 11: Inside the Mind of a Neandertal Feb. 10, 2012 4:01 PM Can we get inside the mind of a species that's been dead for 30,000 years? A new book, How to Think Like a Neanderthal, suggests we can. The authors reconstruct a creature like us in many ways, but with important differences.
Latest Features
- 'Disgusting' court backlog may free hit and run accused
- Whitney Houston's body headed home to New Jersey
- HMCS Corner Brook collision damage extensive
- Adele wins best album, best record Grammys
- Whitney Houston autopsy results withheld
- U.S. bank reforms could hurt Canadians, Flaherty fears
- Father, son recall close call on ice road
- CBC digital music service launched
- Quebec town 'heartbroken' after killing of woman, sisters
