Windsor On, Jan 07 2014- Exactly one year ago Unconquered Sun Solar Technologies Inc. and The University of Windsor received government funding for exciting new Electric Vehicle Research & Development aimed at optimizing Unconquered Sun’s already popular Solar Powered Electric Vehicle Powertrain technology.
The collaboration has resulted in a Solar Powered Electric Vehicle with an average range of 45% further than an identical vehicle without the Solar Powered technology. The University of Windsor’s Center for Hybrid Automotive Research and Green Energy (CHARGE) published a report on Dec 11th outlining the findings, and is expected to publish further technical papers regarding the technology again next month.
The idea of solar regeneration onboard vehicles is quickly gaining traction with major automotive manufacturers such as Ford Motor Co. who unveiled the C-MAX Solar Energi Concept last year. Unconquered Sun lays claim to a U.S. patent application for the technology, filed in June of 2012.
Program partners for this project included Ontario Centres of Excellence, Connect Canada, The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and The National Research Council of Canada. Three University of Windsor PhD students, a Masters student, and a senior undergraduate under Dr. Narayan Kar – an associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Electrified Transportation Systems.
“This is further validation of the technology we are capable of producing right here in Windsor/ Essex. Collaboration with UWin on the EV stuff is something we have been after for a while and would like to see continue.. We need to facilitate more of a ‘Stanford/ Palo Alto’ relationship between manufacturing and our University and academia. Windsor/ Essex truly has the potential to be the silicon valley of renewable technologies.” – Sean Moore, Founder and CEO, Unconquered Sun
Recent studies by Pike research indicate unprecedented growth in Low Speed EV sales from 37,000 units sold annually to 55,000 units sold annually by 2017, reaching total of almost 700,000 LSVs on the road. According to reports North America will account for 45% of annual sales. The low Speed EV market is estimated at $2.64B over next 4 yrs.
