Solar-powered car passes through Nevada

Steve Moyer/Daily Mail-- Students from the University of Michigan were in Nevada with their solar-powered car. The cloudy skies Monday morning forced them off the road and into a truck to finish the trip. Students are removing the farings around the wheels prior to loading the car in the truck.

A solar-powered car passed through Nevada Monday morning. The car was the entry from students at the University of Michigan. Jeff Ferman, a recent graduate and computer science major, was one of the Michigan students, the leader, on the traveling team. Approximately 150 students participated in the project but only 21 go on the road with the car.

The team pulled into the Nevada Fuel Mart truck stop and loaded the car into a semi as the cloudy, and possibly threatening, weather made getting it under protection prudent. One local resident passed the car as it was northbound on U.S. Highway 71 on its way to Nevada and said that it was moving at approximately 50 miles an hour.

Ferman said the group worked on the car as an extra curricular activity and did not receive college credit for the project.

"We have 150 students working on this," Ferman said. "Even apart from the race, it's quite an undertaking. All the students do this as an extra-curricular activity and don't get any credit for their work."

They do get some help, substantial help, from a wide variety of sources including Michelin Tires, Ford and General Motors.

"General Motors really helped," Ferman said. "They provided four vehicles for us, which is extremely generous."

The team plans to participate in the North American Solar Challenge race from Dallas, Texas, to the Canadian cities of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Calgary, Alberta, from July 13 through July 23, a 2,500-mile course.

"It's all solar-powered cars," Ferman said. "There will be quite a few teams, 30 to 50 participating colleges and maybe a few high schools from four or five countries. There used to be some commercial challengers but I don't think there are any this year."

The race has it's own Web site, http://americansolarchallenge.org.

The University of Michigan team has a Web site with a blog: http://www.engin.umich.edu/solarcar/blog/