Ask anyone who has driven around Australia and they are bound to have a few colourful yarns about their adventure.
So it is for Stuart McBain and Paul Dastoor who have just returned from an odyssey that sought to test the capability of portable printed solar cells to power their electric vehicle as part of the 15,000 kilometre Charge Around Australia Challenge.
For a journey focused on harnessing solar energy, it attracted more than its fair share of wind and rain.
"When we were planning this trip I did not expect that we would encounter biblical flood conditions," Dr Dastoor joked.
But they persevered and were rewarded with a wealth of new knowledge that will be used to further evolve the revolutionary technology that Dr Dastoor has developed over the past three decades.
Mr McBain drove the Tesla while a support team carried a battery of 18metre-long portable solar cells.
"We were able to test the cells in all sorts of conditions, even a mini tornado," Dr Dastoor who will present key findings from the trip at next week's Asia Pacific solar research conference," said.
"We've learnt an awful lot in terms of how they respond, and we've got some fantastic data as well.
Eighteen solar cells were produced for the trip, four of which were lost to wear and tear.
On most days the 400 square metre solar array produced 10 watts of power per square metre, or between 16 and 20 kilowatt hours per day. In other words, for about 10 hours of charging time the car travelled 130 kilometres.
Dr Dastoor who was present for part of the journey, and his team will analyse the cells as part their quest to further improve the technology.
"There's going to be a fair amount of taking the cells apart to understand how they failed," he said.
"They consist of many multiple modules so it will be interesting to see in a particular roll if it's all not working or is just particular parts that are not working. Where did it fail? What have been the failure mechanisms?"
The Charge Around Australia team called in at more than 50 schools to showcase a real-world application of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).
"It's been absolutely brilliant to engage with students and communicate what science is, what it means to us, and how important it is for our young school students to appreciate science and, for those who are interested, to go and pursue it and develop new technologies," Dr Dastoor said.
He said he was confident that infrastructure to support the roll-out of electric vehicles in Australia would improve significantly in the next few years.
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