During this longest and hardest electric car race ever, the challenges of the Zero Race have been extremely hard to cope with at times at a personal level, exacerbated by the fatigue of 500 km daily driving, and the tough road conditions in many places. Despite these difficulties, according to tour director Louis Palmer, "the teams are doing extraordinary well, and the race has arrived according to schedule in Shanghai, where they can now enjoy a few days for maintenance, cleaning and preparations for maritime shipping to Vancouver Canada. So far, no major technical difficulties have occurred with the cars"
Vehicles are reliable and efficient
The aim of the race is to show that zero emission vehicles running on renewable energies are technologies for the future that are ready, and reliable already today. With shrinking resources and the impacts of global climate change, the ZERO Race strives to present the solutions for a better and greener future.
The ZERO Race is not about speed, but about other judgment criteria including vehicle reliability, energy efficiency, utility to every day life, design and safety. Almost each day, the teams face competition against new criteria in these categories, and they receive points according to their performance in each. So far, the Swiss team is leading ahead of Germany and Australia, while the South Korean Team had dropped out of the race due to technical difficulties.
The Zero Race is the world’s longest green event
The ZERO Race is a "green" event, and participants are doing everything possible to travel in a responsible way. Any greenhouse gas emissions created from the event, including the shipping of cars and flights by participants, will be compensated by investments into renewable energy projects through myclimate. Each team already produced enough power for their vehicle from renewable energy sources including as solar and wind, and this has been fed into the grid in their home country.
What is ahead
Three vehicles from Switzerland, Germany, and Australia are expected to arrive at the next World Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, at the end of November, and the race should come to an end in January where it started: at United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. If that comes true, Jules Verne’s dream of travelling around the world in 80 days would have come true – via a more ecologically sustainable way.
Some of the sponsoring companies include:
– Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX:GXY) (PINK:GALXF)
– Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)
– Oerlikon Corporation AG (VTX:OERL)
– ABN Newswire
In 2008, Louis Palmer became the first person ever to drive a solar powered car around the world. This project was known as the Solartaxi. It took him 534 days to complete his circumnavigation and spread his powerful message that renewable energies are reliable, affordable and ecologically responsible!
In 2010, he intends to take things even further. This time Louis Palmer is challenging the world to a race via the The Zero Emissions Race. This global event is planned to be a thrill, as well as an opportunity to harness public interest and generate new ways of thinking about mobility, cars and renewable energies. The Zero Race also aims to make zero emission energy solutions accessible to a worldwide audience.
Competitors from all corners of the globe are invited to drive their own zero emission race vehicles. Each competitor’s lean, mean, green machine will be designed to run strictly on renewable energy, such as solar, wind, wave or geothermal. Thus, when the chequered flag will finally come down at the end of the Zero Race, the ultimate winner will be Planet Earth.
