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Science Technology

7th World Solar Challenge Underway 151

Posted by michael from the leave-only-footprints dept.
downundarob writes "At around 200310182230 UTC the World Solar Challenge will leave the start line. Entrants will traverse more than 3,000km of the Australian continent from tropical Darwin to balmy Adelaide, in cars powered by nothing more than the sun. One of the unique propositions of the World Solar Challenge is that it is run in one stage. Once competitors have left Darwin at 8am on the first day, they are on their own. Apart from compulsory stops at the seven checkpoints, each team endeavours to travel as far as it can each day, but must make camp by 5pm each evening."
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7th World Solar Challenge Underway More

7th World Solar Challenge Underway

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  • Camp? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Hardly seems that they are totally on there own if they have to make camp by 5. It would be cooler to see who can get there first with no other rules than the check points. The teams with the technology to charge up a bit durring the day get a leg up.

    • Re:Camp? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by duncf ( 628065 )
      Hardly seems that they are totally on there own if they have to make camp by 5.

      Teams drive from 8 to 5 -- that's 9 hours, they don't stop. Fatigue gets to be a real issue, if there were no rules, there's a very large possibility that drivers (and passengers) would end up with severe dehydration, or, even more likely, cause an accident. It's usually at least 40 degrees Celsius inside the cars.

      • Fatigue gets to be a real issue, if there were no rules, there's a very large possibility that drivers (and passengers) would end up with severe dehydration, or, even more likely, cause an accident.

        Then they wouldn't win, now would they?

  • Why hasn't anyone bothered to make a car that's at least part solar for everyday use?

    • Re:Solar cars. (Score:4, Informative)

      by halo1982 ( 679554 ) * on Saturday October 18, 2003 @07:06PM (#7250500) Homepage Journal
      Actually, someone has.
      Volkswagon Phaeton [vwvortex.com]
      $60k-$100k is currently out of most of our price ranges, however it does exist.

      A further possibility for controlling the atmosphere in the Phaeton is offered by the sliding sunroof. It may be had in both glass and solar versions as an option. The sunroof is operated via a preselector in the roof-mounted console. The solar sunroof is the biggest of its kind on the market. The 28 integrated solar cells provide 24 Watts of energy, which is also used to power the electric fan when the vehicle is at a standstill. In the summer this reduces the interior temperature by up to 20 degrees. Unpleasant air currents and loud wind noise when the roof is open are prevented by a speed-sensitive, electronically-controlled wind deflector.

      wheeeeeeeee!

      • So, why hasn't somthing like this been intergrated into a car like the Prius? The Prius needs a sunroof anyways, and it would make it much more efficiant because it could harnest alot more electricity.
        • Because according to google [google.com] 24 Watts is 0.0321845302 HP

          How usefull do you think that is? Somehow I doubt it is even remotely close to cost effective.
      • OK.... great, it runs a fan. =)

        Didn't they sell these as after market gadgets? Little fans with a small solar panel to be put on the dash...

    • Re:Solar cars. (Score:3, Informative)

      by EmbeddedJanitor ( 597831 )
      Because it's a useless showcasing of a useless technology.

      Solar car challenegs showcase and advance the state of high efficiency photovoltaic (PV) cells and bugger the price. To be useful as a real-world energy source, PV needs to be looking for better dollars per watt. If I could get PV at a low enough $/W I'd shingle my roof with the stuff.

      Some might say that low-cost PV will be a spin-off of this research, but I doubt it. Low cost PV technologies can't effectively use silicon, or gallium etc due tothe hi

      • Solar car challenegs showcase and advance the state of high efficiency photovoltaic (PV) cells and bugger the price.

        Not only do they showcase the state of PV cells, but also super efficient cars. For example, the Queen's University car [queensu.ca], with one of the best and largest solar arrays in the world, can produce just over 2000 Watts of energy... 2.6 horsepower. But that's enough to have them run at 80 km/hr (50 mph) without drawing from the battery.

    • Re:Solar cars. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by adeyadey ( 678765 )
      ..Expense.

      Solar power has evolved massively in the last decade or so, but the sort of very-high-efficiency cells used here - and they have to be because of the small surface area - are still very expensive, they need "chip grade" silicon. What is more cost effective for stationary generators are amorphous cells - much lower efficiency, but potentially very cheap to make. If you could get the efficiency of these cells up then you could have genuine solar/electic combo transport. Oh you need cheap, light bat
  • I wonder if there is a way to follow the progress of the racers.....
  • Since when has Adelaide been known as balmy ... capital of the driest state on the driest continent on the world ...

  • Just goes to show.. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by adeyadey ( 678765 ) on Saturday October 18, 2003 @07:04PM (#7250492) Journal

    Proving that solar (and other alterntives) have come on leaps and bounds in the last decade or so. Why do we still persist with nuclear, oil, coal, with all the attendant problems (pollution, wars over oil, etc), when we could cover a small proportiion of the deserts of the world [electrosolar.co.uk] with solar cells, and the roofs of our buildings, and the coasts with huge offsiore wind farms [bwea.com] & tidal turbines, and have all the power we need?

    • Well, for one, the cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated from traditional photovoltaic cells is still nowhere near competitive with standard line power generated mostly by coal, with some oil, nuclear and hydro here in the ole' USA. PV technology seems to improve here and there, and there are always some companies investing in it, but we just haven't seen anything (yet) at the production stage that is cost competitive when you amortize the costs of the cells over their expected lifespan.

      Or it c

      • and more efficient than photovoltaics. Not quite yet on a par with conventional power on a cost basis yet but getting very very close.

        It's difficult to see how it might power a vehicle though, stirling engine?


      • Well, for one, the cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated from traditional photovoltaic cells is still nowhere near competitive with standard line power generated mostly by coal, with some oil, nuclear and hydro here in the ole' USA. PV technology seems to improve here and there, and there are always some companies investing in it, but we just haven't seen anything (yet) at the production stage that is cost competitive when you amortize the costs of the cells over their expected lifespan.

        So

    • Why do we still persist with nuclear, oil, coal, with all the attendant problems (pollution, wars over oil, etc), when we could cover a small proportiion of the deserts of the world with solar cells, and the roofs of our buildings, and the coasts with huge offsiore wind farms & tidal turbines, and have all the power we need?

      Because: 1) Where's the big money in all that? 2) The "Not in my backyard!" Problem, and 3) (at least for tidal power) More research, AFAIK, needs to be done on the effects of doin
      • I am quite convinced now that alternatives have evolved to the stage where either they are totally practical (like wind) or that the problems will be solved when economy-of-scales kicks in when we actually implement it. The point is, if you dont like it, well, just rip it up and scrap it - a wind/solar/tide farm doesnt leave plutonium or other pollution around for our grandchildren to worry about..
      • Why is it that the "Not in my backyard" logic never seems to apply to the smog and pollution produced by our current methods? I know I would gladly accept the presence of windmills, solar panels, etc in exchange for being able to breathe clean air...
        • Because a little bit of smog isn't the same thing as a giant windmill blocking your view.
          • I can only suggest that people who believe that should be forced to spend some time in a city/area with real pollution problems..

            Some of the farmers *welcome* wind farms on thier properties - it brings in extra income, and they can still use 90% of the land around the turbines for livestock/farming..
          • Last time I checked, windmills don't give your kids asthma.
            • Hey, don't shoot the messenger, I'm just pointing out "why".

              Not to mention, last time I checked, fossil fuels were more efficient and more reliable than windmills...
              • Hey, don't shoot the messenger, I'm just pointing out "why".

                Okay, I'll let you live... this time. :^)

                Not to mention, last time I checked, fossil fuels were more efficient and more reliable than windmills...

                I'm not so sure that's true, at least in the long term. Any oil well is guaranteed to fail (stop producing significant quantities of energy) after a finite period of time. A wind farm, properly maintained, can continue producing energy indefinitely. (not to mention that a good portion of the w

          • .. and wind farms can even help tourism [bwea.com] for that area...
        • You wouldn't mind, I wouldn't mind, but there are plenty of ignorant, selfish people out there.

          Ive got family in Esperance - a very windy coastal town in Western Australia, 10's of thousands of residents. Most of the town's power comes from diesel generators, though there is a modest wind farm - one of the first major installation in WA.

          In this day and age of environmental awareness and sensitivity, plenty of people still complain about the windmills. Stupid fucks.

        • The thing about the NIMBY logic is that on a certain level it does make sense. Consider:

          You buy a sizeable plot of land in rural somewhere for your summer home. you don't feel bad because if things ever go bad in the workplace, you'll be able to sell off the property for about what you bought it for, probably more.

          enter the power company wanting to put windmills up near enough to your land to put them in sight. This would destroy your property value which puts a serious dent in your financial securit

    • We still persist with fossil fuels because of all the money behind them. Reusable energy will dominate once corporate execs can charge for use of the sun and the wind.
    • The race itself is a "tour-de-force" of solar technology - these cars will not be fully economic/affordable until we have a solar cell that delivers 50%+ efficiency at a low cost-per-cell. As a supplementary power source for a smart-type battery car it could eventually prove interesting - leave your car parked in the sun when you go to work, and get a free ride home!

      One thought I had on battery cars - why not "swap" batteries at a garage, instead of pumping in fuel (petrol, hydrogen..) - you dont "own" the
      • One thought I had on battery cars - why not "swap" batteries at a garage, instead of pumping in fuel (petrol, hydrogen..) - you dont "own" the batteries, just hire them, and keep swapping them for a fully charged set at each garage.

        For it to not be time and labor-intensive, the method by which the battery pack is installed and removed would have to be roughly uniform across *ALL* cars of that style. Look at "normal" cars--they all get their gas pumped in the same way. Taking out and putting in a several-h
        • Taking out and putting in a several-hundred pound battery pack is a bit more complicated than sticking a nozzle in a hole

          I imagine something like what you have at the oil-changing places... a pit in the floor that you drive over. Once your car is lined up, a robot in the pit removes your current battery pack and puts in a fresh one.

          Also, what's the incentive? What would you be willing to pay the "juice" station owner for this service?

          As a rule of thumb, I think people would be willing to pay as mu

        • That would be the idea - all batteries would comply to one format - maybe some differences in capacity size for different vehicles, but otherwise a standard system. The system could be automatic, a machine is aligned to a panel & takes the old one out & puts a new one in. Remember petrol is not easy to handle safely, a lot of development & technology goes into making a modern service station safe.

          At the moment in the EU we pay US $50+ for a full tank, and the station owner makes peanuts on tha
    • Have you done the math how much land would be covered to replace 1 1000 MW Nuclear Power Plant? The best Solar technology today would need $5 billion dollar investment in Solar panels alone to generate 1000MW, and covers about 10 Sq miles. That is 10 square miles that has 100% Sun exposure 365 days a year.

      For California alone, to meet peak demands in the summer, we would need to build 45 of these. That's 450 sq miles of your Desert covered up with solar panels, and we better hope that we get good sun th
      • Solar satellites are a good idea, the problem is the phrase "beam down energy" scientist are still trying to figure what the beam could be, microwaves could work but there would be a problem of how big the recieving point needs to be and the distribution of a high concentration of energy. people have talked about a runaway beam frying large swaths of land. A possible better idea that I like is to use ground based solar power to crack water and store the hydrogen for later use or pump water up into a manmade

      • Yes, the link [industry.gov.au] I gave you showed you the maths - indeed to generate *all* the power needed just with solar would require large areas of land. That is why I was suggesting that such scheme should operate in conjunction with other alternatives. You dont need to meet "peak" demand in the way you suggest. Dont forget that there is an area in your home that can be used to generate free power - your roof. You can cover the roof of your home with solar tiles, combined with systems that directly heat water for the h

        • Zero annual electricity bills?!

          Do you realize it's statements like this that make people not trust enviromentalists anymore?

          Yeah, they pay zero for electricty, just like a new homeowner doesn't have to pay rent anymore!

          I don't know what the legal situation in the UK is with Nuclear, but nuclear can be cheaper, if you bother to reprocess the fuel. Too bad the enviromentals got around to getting rid of all the reprocessing plants in the US. You don't seem to mention that.

          Nuclear=Small controlable radioact

          • I was just quoting the article [industry.gov.au] that claimed zero-electric bills (on balance) for a solar-powered house in Australia (minus heating), go read it and figure..

            The UK is in fact one of the countries with the biggest wealth of *wind* resources - we could fairly readily generate 100%+ of our needs with off-shore wind plants - ok that would require a more advanced power regulation and control system, but the potential is there.

            The original article was about solar powered vehicles in *australia* (remember?) so

            • I did read the article. It was awful. Summary: "Some guy got solar and it powers his whole house!"

              And when you quote something, it means that it matches your line of thinking or your argument. Otherwise, it means you like grabbing random sentences from articles and peppering your posts with them. You were trying to mislead people.

              Off-shore Wind plants seem to be a good thing. I hope it works out well.

              Nuclear power is safe. Until you have the plants run by idiots who turn off all the safeties and control
    • cover a small proportiion of the deserts of the world with solar cells

      Using desert area to make electricity is a great idea, but solar cells would be a completely idiotic way to do it. Solar cells cost way too much per watt, and their efficiency is too low.

      What you want is steered mirrors boiling water in a tower, running a turbine. Much cheaper per watt, much more scalable, and it's actually pretty doable right now; in fact there have been test sites for decades.

      Of course, one other consideration is
    • Are you smoking crack rock ? Leaps and bounds ? What leaps specifically are you reffering to and what bounds ?

      Small portion of the deserts ? Exactly how small a portion would be required of any desert to say produce the energy needs of California? Don't forget providing power at night and on the rare cloudy day and during winter. I am not talking about peak. Go find the figures for last years energy use by california divide it by 365 to get your average power a day. Then divide that number by the average n
      • If you believe that it makes sense to meet our future power needs with nuclear or fossil, then you are the one who is smoking..

        I never suggested that we should have *all* our power needs from solar, just that its one option that makes sense in some places. Amorphous silicon cells are relatively new, are very cheap to make, and if efficiency can be improved would certainly make solar pay in all sorts of situations. Solar roofing is a reality, I already gave a link to a project in Australia, where they had e
        • First I did not advocate nuclear and oil anywhere in that post. I simply pointed out issues with solar power supplanting them per your statement

          "Why do we still persist with nuclear, oil, coal, with all the attendant problems ??"

          answer: because the options have problems.

          Your turbine link is interesting but I find it revealing that they can't secure finaincing ( gvt track record non-withstanding, if its such a good investment whats the holdup ? ) and more importantly there is no link leading you to the st
          • BWEA *has* got the backing it needs - rather the indiviual generators it represents have - for a massive off-shore scheme, that should generate 20% UK power by 2020. Its already happening. The point I made about turning Electric->H->Electric is a possible cycle for storing Wind-power in relatively rare shortage situations. It runs like this - we have enough Wind, Solar + a bit of spinning capacity from Fossil to generate, say, 200% of our needs *on average*. We dont need all that power much of the tim
            • 200% is nice but again thats only generating capacity and dosn't reflect the net recoup if you store the excess.. at least as far as hydrogen goes. I am not under the impression that hydro pumping as a means of storing later generating capacity is any more efficient. Thus if you produce twice as much energy as you need your only going to store somewhere in the neighborhood of 20% in terms of net energy recvovery thus you have to produce 200% of your demand level at a 5:1 ratio to your storage demand otherwi
    • What, and destroy the desert ecosystem? (And there is one.) The enviromentalists will be all over you if you ever suggest anything that smacks of "Progress".

      Besides, sandstorms scratch up the glass and plastic, which will greatly reduce the effiency of the panels. Not to mention the heavy layer of dust. Or being completely covered in a sandune drift.

    • You do know *why* they stop at 5 PM each night? It gets dark.

      Also, the manufacture of solar cells is rather like that for other chips in terms of energy and (nasty) chemicals. Then there's the task of collecting that power and distributing it to where people live (or storing it in batteries made of heavy metals and other funky crap).

      Yes, we should strive for better energy soucres. But just now, I don't see any alternative energy sources that are capable of meeting our appetite.

      Xix.

      • Well, there are polution issues with most manufcturing processes- the point with wind/solar is that its a "one-off", the cell will then be in use hopefully for a few decades, not making anymore pollutions. Whereas when you fill your car petrol up, a whole load of CO2, CO, NO, Hg, etc isgoing up in smoke as a result..

        Wind energy looks a good bet - prices are coming down to around $0.01-0.02/kilowatt hour, the turbines keep going for decades..

        As I said before, there are no zero-impact solutions, just bette

  • The top cars are. (Score:1, Troll)

    by rkz ( 667993 )
    The vary best cars are:

    Aoyama Gakuin "AGU Aglaia"
    Aoyama Gakuin's original solar car was built eight years ago but many of the components, including solar array, batteries, driver interface and ampere-hour metre have recycled and been upgraded to meet today?s technological standards. Another improvement is the more reliable electrical and ventilation systems. The team has twice participated in the WSC, in 1999 and 2001. The 22 student members of the team will vie for a good place in this year?s event.
    An

  • what is the point of this? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by the_2nd_coming ( 444906 ) on Saturday October 18, 2003 @07:06PM (#7250499) Homepage
    I mean realy, it doe snot extend our knowledge about solor power, it does not inovate or make new solutions. all it does is give universities with lots of money the ability to build super lite cars that run on solor power. big deal.

    I want to see an S prize. the first group that can develope the best price/performance ratio for solor power gets money or something, then the next time, the next prise it set to be 5% better than the last performance, and the money increases as the ratios get harder to reach.

    that would be exciting stuff.
    • New ideas could be implemented into the solar cars though, like regenerating brakes, and it is a good project where you have to make somthing efficiant, efficiancy is somthing we don't see alot of nowdays.
    • Activities like this may not extend mankind's knowledge about solar power, but they are useful.

      Parent made an excellent point, apparently without realizing it:

      "all it does is give universities with lots of money the ability to build super lite cars that run on solor power"

      Activities like this give aspiring engineers of various disciplines an opportunity to work on a large project. In engineering fields, work experience on large projects is invaluable.

      Also, activities like this expose many of the p

    • Isn't the point just to have fun? The cars are already going to be built anyway, might as well have some sort of contest with them.

      I don't know if it's a cultural thing or a human thing, but most people here in the US like competitions.

  • "Well-balanced Max"? (Score:3, Funny)

    by SuperBanana ( 662181 ) on Saturday October 18, 2003 @07:07PM (#7250504)
    Entrants will traverse more than 3,000km of the Australian continent from tropical Darwin to balmy Adelaide

    Oy, govnah. Sounds like Mad Max, it does- only a might quiet'ah, none of them pesky cannibals an' bettah scenery.

    I dare someone to show up with a crazy looking vehicle and start taking out contestants with crude weaponry. Extra bonus points if your vehicle spews fire, brandishes lots of pointy edges, and gets under 5mpg. That'll show those eco-freaks who's boss.

  • I Wonder... (Score:3, Funny)

    by segment ( 695309 ) <sil@pol[ ]ix.org ['itr' in gap]> on Saturday October 18, 2003 @07:13PM (#7250529) Homepage Journal

    When it turns to night could participants use their sparcs, ultras, and enterprises to keep going? You did say Solar as in Sun [sun.com] right?

  • University of Missouri-Rolla (Score:5, Informative)

    by (startx) ( 37027 ) <slashdot@NOSPaM.unspunproductions.com> on Saturday October 18, 2003 @07:17PM (#7250537) Journal
    It's too bad this year's winner [umr.edu] of the American Solar Challenge [americanso...llenge.org] couldn't raise enough money to ship the car to Australia and compete.
    • Actually there were many teams who weren't able to make it this year. There are only 3 or 4 cars coming from the whole of North America, when it used to be about that amount from Canada alone. It has been a bad year to raise money for a race like this.

  • Mandatory Camp Time? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by thelen ( 208445 ) on Saturday October 18, 2003 @07:20PM (#7250553) Homepage
    I don't like this mandatory 5 pm camp time. It seems to me that a critical test of solar technology for travel is being able to move even in low/no light situations, and thus of batteries. Why not give a start time and destination, and simply go by first across the finish line? If someone manages to build a machine that gets the optimal balance of power gathering plus battery capacity to maintain the highest average speed across lighting changes then they win.
    • Well it gives them time to set up camp before the sun sets.

      And I wouldn't want to be in a car that really isnt built that strong at night. Trucks and road trains would run over them and not even know they did it.
    • The 5pm camp rule has nothing to do with the fact that the cars are powered by the sun. It's simply for the safety of the teams competing. One of the teams in the past has once calculated that the optimal driving strategy is to drive through the day and night (driving a bit slower at night since you're limited to a 5kWh battery pack). This has been proposed as a rule change a few times for the ASC, but has been rejected simply for safety reasons. (some of) These cars cause enough of a disruption on road

    • Until some team designs their car with a few solar panels on the back to catch the headlights from the chase van, and aims those headlights to hit that one spot. Not as much as full sun, so it isn't worth it if you are racing during the day, but if you want to go all night you can cheat a lot by generating power elsewhere, and using light to beam it at you.

  • Queen's University Solar Vehicle Team (Score:4, Informative)

    by duncf ( 628065 ) on Saturday October 18, 2003 @07:23PM (#7250561)
    You can follow the progress of the Queen's University Team here [queensu.ca]. The Queen's team came 7th in this year's American Solar Challenge [americanso...llenge.org] and is looking to finish in the top 3 in this competition. One of the unique features of the Queen's car is that it is a two-seater, one of the few in the world.

    There's a lot of technical information about the Queen's car here [queensu.ca] (Pages 4 and 5)
  • They should make it free for all. No camps, and have weapons and make it like Mad Max!! (J/K)
    -Seriv
  • If they are promoting reaserach they would wna tthe contestants to want to run as long as possible. If you can harvest excess energy and store it in batteries during the day and the run all night, that's a much better design, and therefore much more useful. A real solar vehicle won't be day-only. Or if it is it sure won't sell.

    • Re:Why stop at 5pm? (Score:3, Informative)

      by TDRighteo ( 712858 )
      I know you're probably just saying this because the theory sounds good, and I know you probably mean no harm, but I find your comment bordering on disturbing.

      No, it's not the principle of harvesting power and running at night for solar powered cars. It's the suggestion that you might even *THINK* about doing it in *this* race in particular.

      Take a look at a map [lonelyplanet.com].

      Now, although this might not be entirely clear to some, the road in question is two lanes for most of the distance. I believe it's even sealed bit
      • At 5pm in summer in NT and SA the sun won't be down for at least half an hour (hopefully). That gives plenty of time to stop everybody and make sure that nobody is on the road at dusk. In Australia, dusk is typically when the wildlife starts moving. For the 'roos and wallibies certainly, and considering the streach of road, probably quite a few emus too.

        Not to mention the fact that between Katherine and Alice Springs your crossing cattle country, and this road is UNFENCED. Having just driven the Darwin - A

      • As a member of the sungroper team, I speak from driving on the road, it's all bitumen, but of course there are road-works, so some is technically not :-)

        The road is mostly single lane, not a highway by any real stretch of the imagination, given that there are generally no sides, the lane stops on a white line on the edge with about 10-20cm of bitumen overhang.

        The wild life does start moving at dusk, and is not limited to relatively small animals, but donkeys, camels and the regular cows and bulls (often B

  • wow! (Score:1)

    by FIGJAM ( 29275 )
    Where is the 7th World?

    How do we challenge it?

  • One day, but each has to transport five pre-teens to school, soccer (futbol) practice, and get in and out of a parking lot at Starbucks quickest.

  • For those interested, here is the race web site [sunswift.com] of the Sunswift II team from UNSW.
  • Although i am not involved in any way, i'm still proud that the last race was won by my university, Delft University of Technolgy (the Netherlands).

    Have a look at the page of the team here [nuonsolarteam.nl].

    They won the last race as debutants, mainly because they got some big money from a power company that allowed them to buy space grade (triple junction?) solar cells. They are coached by Wubbo Ockels, the only dutch astronaut, so ESA is also involved.
  • The sungroper team from Western Australia is 258km out of Darwin, 61km from the Katherine control stop, and all are well.

    We've set-up the mobile internet dish in the dark and we're merrily typing away at our camp kitchen table, sending messages to the world. The sungroper website is being updated as we speak, but I'll leave it to you to find it, so we have a chance to upload before you swamp it :-)

    The car performed as expected, but the weather had a bonus cloud base - not a lot of charging happened. While
  • Hi all,

    We got up in the morning in total darkness at 4am and headed out to 58km short of Katherine. There we set up the array and waited for the sun which never arrived. A grand total of .08Ah was put into our 26Ah batteries. We now had 2.08Ah to start the day.

    After deliberation, we trailered to the control point in Katherine where we were welcomed with open arms. Apparently reports overnight varied between - we'd given up, gone back to Darwin, gone bush or went camping - no-one seems to read this list, o
  • At the end of the third day, we're camped in Tennant Creek after driving for the first half of the day and then trailering for ~170km. Satellite connection is live, and we're getting lots more people here. We got a good charge this morning, used only 6Ah out of the batteries while driving today (leaving ~4Ah in the batteries). Between this evenings charge and tomorrow morning, we should be able to start tomorrow with about 21Ah in the batteries, and spend almost all day driving. We think the steering's out

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