global green challenge

A team of solar-car scientists from Japan's Tokai University turned the intense rays of central Australia into victory in the 2009 Global Green Challenge. The team covered nearly 1,860 miles over four days in their solar-powered Tokai Challenger to claim first place among the Challenge's solar-vehicle field.

In preparation for the inaugural Global Green Challenge across the Australian outback, a team of Turkish students have assembled a hydrogen-powered vehicle that has an efficiency of 568 kilometers per liter (roughly 1,335 mpg). In order to get across the outback, they hope to only use three liters of fuel in the vehicle, dubbed the SAHİMO.

The SAHİMO weighs 110 kg--a carbon fiber frame keeps the weight down--and the scary thing is that these Sakarya University students want to up the efficiency to 1,000 km/L.