Memorial Day is upon us and across the US people are remembering and honoring those that gave their lives for our country. The Arizona Solar Center joins Americans everywhere in saluting those that have died in our nation’s service.
Memorial Day is also the traditional start to “meteorological” summer -- with the command to start your engines symbolic of that start.
The Indy 500, with all of its pageantry, has long been associated with Memorial Day. Beyond the winners circle, car racing has helped mature and develop new technologies for the automobile industry. Scores of innovations in gasoline vehicles -- from rear-view mirrors to seat belts to disk brakes -- appeared first on the race track at Indy and elsewhere.
Innovation in electric car technology also has its roots in racing and some of the earliest solar and electric car races took place in Arizona. In 1990, Arizona Governor Rose Mofford lent her title to an event that was held as a preliminary race to Formula One’s US Grand Prix. A half-dozen university racing teams preparing for that summer’s GM Sunrayce converged on Phoenix for a few laps around the downtown street course.
The Governor’s Cup Solar Challenge was the first of four solar and electric car races held from early 1990 to late-spring 1991. The GM Sunrayce (Orlando to Detroit), the American Tour de Sol (Albany to Plymouth Rock) and the APS Solar and Electric 500 at Phoenix International Raceway were the others.
The APS 500 featured nearly 60 vehicles constructed by university students and enthusiasts and driven by professional racecar drivers such as Tom Sneva and Billy Roe.
Even radio legend Paul Harvey came out to witness the APS event. “I had to see what tomorrow looks like,” Harvey proclaimed at the time, “and isn’t it exciting.”
The solar and electric car races were envisioned as a brain game for future automobile engineers. The cars and the road courses and tracks provided a laboratory for the “Henry Fords” of tomorrow/today. Many of the student participants went on to careers with automobile companies in Detroit and elsewhere.
Akin to the advances in automobile technology that races like the Indy 500 have tested and proven, the electric transportation industry can thank races like the Governor’s Cup and the APS 500 for pioneering advances in electric vehicle technology. Regenerative braking is just one of the early innovations that was put to the test in the desert over 20 years ago.
Arizona’s place in electric vehicle history could be adding a new chapter in the next few weeks as Tesla is set to announce the location of its multi-billion dollar battery manufacturing facility. If Arizona is selected over California, Texas, New Mexico and Nevada – it will signal the beginning of a new chapter in Arizona’s long and storied connection to the electric vehicle industry.
Jim Arwood
Communications Director
Arizona Solar Center
Questions: As we have written before, the success of many advanced clean energy technologies belongs uniquely to Arizona -- where new devices are ever welcomed and their merits tested and proven and achievements acclaimed. Can you name some other clean energy innovations that trace their roots and success to Arizona?
