Posted September 11, 2017 14:03:49

Photo: Flinders will compete in the cruiser class, meaning the car will be judged on practicality. (ABC News: Alina Eacott)

A team of students at Adelaide's Flinders University has built a solar-powered car that can carry three people, to compete in this year's World Solar Challenge (WSC).

Teams are now gearing up ahead of the 3,000 kilometre race from Darwin to Adelaide, which will feature solar cars from around the world.

This is the first year Flinders University has taken part.

"Our aim initially is to finish the race — that's first and foremost," said team director Stuart Wildy, at the launch of the car.

"Being the first time we're not expecting to win the competition, but we're hoping to get across the line."

Flinders will compete in the cruiser class, in which teams are also judged on the practicality of their cars.

"The original design that we had for the car was to try and have it as a normal, standard, road family car ... something people would like to see and like to drive," Dr Wildy said.

He said time constraints meant some design elements had to be scrapped.

"One of the features we didn't get in there this year is regenerative suspension, but hopefully that'll be for 2019.

"We were able to get a windshield which is made out of gorilla glass, which is lightweight material ... and the solar cells are encapsulated in fibreglass."

Photo: Dr Stuart Wildy says design compromises have been made, but is confident of making it to the finish. (ABC News: Alina Eacott)

Dr Wildy said there was still much work to do on the vehicle, and getting it ready in time would come "down a little bit to the wire".

"Most of the mechanical work is done. The next stage is to put all the electronics in there so we can actually start driving the vehicle," he said.

"Most of that's been prototyped on our little prototype vehicle we've got and so from there we should just be able to put the components in and off we go."

The team of about 20 people will leave for Darwin later this month.

"We've got a great team, they've been fantastic. We've got people who are engineers, IT, business. We've also got a nutritionist who's designed the meal plan for us."

The race begins in Darwin on October 8, with the winners expected to cross the finish line in Victoria Square around October 12.

Topics: solar-energy, alternative-energy, environment, road-transport, science-and-technology, sa, adelaide-5000