Conjee Yeung, driver for the Drexel University
solar car engineering team, smiles from the cockpit bubble on the way to
technical inspections at the Shell Eco-marathon Americas in Houston.
Photograph by Harley Soltes, National Geographic
When 11 engineering students at Drexel University decided last year to enter a contest to design and build a super-fuel-efficient car, they knew that choosing to power their homemade vehicle with solar energy would increase their costs, their risks, and their aerodynamic drag.
They decided to go for it.
... the Drexel students—all graduating seniors who soon will be taking their skills into the job market—are part of a cadre who are convinced that they are entering a world demanding fundamental change in how we fuel transportation and the economy. "If you get in the energy field, eventually, you will be doing alternative energy," said Drexel electrical engineering student Asaf Erlich. "There's no way around that."
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