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CNN Live Sunday

American Solar Challenge Begins Today

Aired July 15, 2001 - 17:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Price of gasoline doesn't matter for a car race beginning today, running from Chicago to Los Angeles. It is the solar challenge. All of the cars run on sun power.

Jeff Flock has more on the race and the technology powering the cars.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It looks a little like the Daytona 500 on Mars, except they go a little slower.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd say about 75, 80 is its top speed.

FLOCK: The prizes aren't much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or, let me rephrase that. In terms of prizes -- nothing.

FLOCK: And the 2,300 mile race won't take a single gallon of gas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are going to go all the way across the country just on sunlight.

FLOCK: The American Solar Challenge, the longest solar car race in the world, runs the old route 66 from Chicago to L.A.

DAN EBERLE, RACE DIRECTOR: In peoples' minds, it is the epic road trip, that route 66.

FLOCK: But no one has ever gone down it like this before. All the power has to come from the sun that beads down on the eight square meter of solar rays on each car.

NADER SCHWAYHAT, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: And if it's, you know, a really beautiful day we will be hopefully flying. But if the weather comes down and the thunderstorms come down, we will adjusting our speeds, probably driving a little bit slower, a little bit more conservative to just save energy and make sure we can still cross the line in L.A.

FLOCK: The teams qualified on this track in South Haven, Michigan. They come from all around the world. This one from Italy, but most are universities, like the Principia College car here and this one from the University of Michigan. They cost upward of a quarter-million dollars to build, but the Department of Energy, which helped sponsor the race, says solar power for electric cars is already viable in the real world.

RICHARD KING, ENERGY DEPARTMENT: You could put a couple of kilowatts on your garage roof, pull your electric vehicle in and just plug in.

FLOCK: These racers are looking for every edge: spraying water on the solar panels to magnify the sun's rays, running at high tire pressure to cut resistance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just changing tires. Hot day, the rubber wears less.

FLOCK: And in this race, a hot car is a fast car in more ways than one.

I'm Jeff Flock, CNN, in Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: That race is now under way.

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