Designed at the University of Bologna, prototype won race in the USA only with solar-powered cars
Emilia 4 is the name of the Italian car powered 100% by solar energy. Made from materials derived from aerospace craft, it produces zero emissions at a speed of 110 km per hour, consuming, as its creators guarantee, as much energy as a hairdryer.
The prototype was designed and built by a team from the University of Bologna in Italy, and took two years of work before being recently unveiled at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello. This August, the Emilia 4 took part in the American Solar Challenge, a race of over 3 km that runs from Nebraska to Oregon (USA), traveling for almost a month solely on solar energy, and won.
Emilia 4 won the American Solar Challenge. (Photo: Disclosure)
In its construction, materials derived from aerospace leftovers were used, as a pioneer in the Italian automotive sector, especially laminates and a sandwich made of carbon fibers and titanium tubulars. In addition, “green” or hybridized fibers and carbon brakes went into its creation.
But not only. “We have brought together in Emilia 4 the technology that we develop daily for applications aimed at the industrial sector, for example, photovoltaic conversion processes or for the distribution of photovoltaic cells on vertical walls of buildings”, explains Claudio Rossi, from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information from the University of Bologna.
Drawings of the Emilia 4 project, made in Italy. (Image: Reproduction)
The researchers' objective is to develop vehicles, like the Emilia, that are energetically autonomous, and charged in a 100% renewable way.
Emilia 4 was developed by the Italian team Onda Solare. For now, it is just a prototype, but the expectation is that it will soon be approved for use on the streets.
FOLLOW ITALIANISM
