Here Comes Heol (The Sun)
Heol is a solar powered vehicle designed by Team Ecosolar Breizh and made in Brittany (Breizh means Brittany). Heol means “Sun” in Breton (in Welsh it means “road” so it’s only normal that Heol is made for the road). Jean-Marc Goachet – a native from Brest (don’t laugh!) and a good friend of mine – is one of the two pilots.
Heol was made to race … Unfortunately, in 2013, the team went all the way to Australia and was sent off from the race (Bridgestone Power Challenge that is). The reason for this is a bit hard to swallow: their batteries were declared non compliant because they were homemade. I would have thought that everything in a car like this should have been home made but I am wrong. But they shall not be deterred and they will be on the starting line in October 2015 … with standard batteries this time.
Jean Marc is getting into the cockpit. A difficult process as none of the solar cells must be trodden upon.
Close up of the cockpit with its makeshift roll cage
The homemade battery is amazing. All the pieces and celles have been engineered manually. A rubber band is keeping the battery in place. A shame they were disqualified for that particular reason.
A Samsung Android tablet is used for the meters.
Jean Marc in the cockpit
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Assez paradoxal en effet de ne pas vouloir aider l’innovation au niveau de la batterie dans ce type d’épreuve (même avec un ruban Décathlon 🙂 … bonne chance à Jean-Marc et à son équipe pour la prochaine tentative.
I wish them well!