American Tour de Sol

Last updated

The American Tour de Sol (ATdS) was an annual electric vehicle conference and rally that ran from 1989 to 2006 under the supervision of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), drawing inspiration from the Tour de Sol that started in Switzerland in 1985. One of the annual ATDS events was a multi-day road rally from Montpelier, Vermont to Boston which started in 1990. After gaining support from the United States Department of Energy, the ATdS began including alternative fuel vehicles.

Contents

History

American Tour de Sol
DatesStartFinishProduction class winnerRef.
Mfr.No.VehicleScore
May 23, 1994May 28, 1994 New York City Philadelphia, PA Ford 23 Ecostar 612.2 mi (985.2 km) (distance traveled) [1]
May 19, 1995May 26, 1995 Waterbury, CT Portland, ME Solectria / Virginia Power56 Force GT538.7 mi (867.0 km) (distance traveled) [2] [3]
May 12, 1996May 16, 1996 New York City Washington, DC Solectria 4 Force NiMH604.7 mi (973.2 km) (distance traveled) [4]
May 17, 1997May 24, 1997 Waterbury, CT Portland, ME Solectria 76 Force NiMH584.0 mi (939.9 km) (distance traveled) [5] [6]
May 8, 1998May 14, 1998 New York City Washington, DC Solectria / Ovonic 76 Force NiMH112.90 (points) [7] [8]
May 22, 1999May 29, 1999 Waterbury, CT Lake George, NY Solectria / EVermont15 Force NiMH89.55 (points) [9] [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SEAT</span> Spanish automobile manufacturer

SEAT S.A. is a Spanish car manufacturer, which sells its vehicles under the SEAT and Cupra brands. It was founded on 9 May 1950 as a partnership between the Spanish state-owned Instituto Nacional de Industria (INI), which held a majority stake, Spanish private banks, and FIAT. It quickly became the largest supplier of cars in Spain. In 1986, after 36 years of being publicly listed as an independent automaker, the Spanish government sold SEAT to the Volkswagen Group, of which it remains a wholly owned subsidiary.

IVECO, an acronym for Industrial Vehicles Corporation, is an Italian multinational transport vehicle manufacturing company. It designs and builds light, medium, and heavy commercial vehicles. The name IVECO first appeared in 1975 after a merger of Italian, French, and German brands. Its production plants are in Europe, China, Russia, Australia and Latin America and it has about 5,000 sales and service outlets in over 160 countries. The worldwide output of the company amounts to around 150,000 commercial vehicles with a turnover of about €10 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford Focus</span> Compact car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1998

The Ford Focus is a compact car manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1998. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide. The original Focus was primarily designed by Ford of Europe's German and British teams. Production of the fourth generation Focus began in 2018 in Germany and China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Automobile Association</span> Federation of motor clubs throughout the USA and Canada

American Automobile Association is a federation of motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a privately held not-for-profit national member association and service organization with over 60 million members in the United States and Canada. AAA provides services to its members, including roadside assistance and others. Its national headquarters are in Heathrow, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydro-Québec</span> Canadian hydroelectric utility

Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renault Mégane</span> Car model manufactured by Renault

The Renault Mégane, also spelled without the acute accent as Megane, especially in languages other than French, is a small family car produced by the French car manufacturer Renault for model year 1996, and was the successor to the Renault 19. The Mégane has been offered in three- and five-door hatchback, saloon, coupé, convertible and estate bodystyles at various points in its lifetime, and having been through four generations is now in its fifth incarnation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable transport</span> Sustainable transport in the senses of social, environmental and climate impacts

Sustainable transport refers to ways of transportation that are sustainable in terms of their social and environmental impacts. Components for evaluating sustainability include the particular vehicles used for road, water or air transport; the source of energy; and the infrastructure used to accommodate the transport. Transport operations and logistics as well as transit-oriented development are also involved in evaluation. Transportation sustainability is largely being measured by transportation system effectiveness and efficiency as well as the environmental and climate impacts of the system. Transport systems have significant impacts on the environment, accounting for between 20% and 25% of world energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. The majority of the emissions, almost 97%, came from direct burning of fossil fuels. In 2019, about 95% of the fuel came from fossil sources. The main source of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union is transportation. In 2019 it contributes to about 31% of global emissions and 24% of emissions in the EU. In addition, up to the COVID-19 pandemic, emissions have only increased in this one sector. Greenhouse gas emissions from transport are increasing at a faster rate than any other energy using sector. Road transport is also a major contributor to local air pollution and smog.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Richards (motorsport)</span> Welsh motorsports team manager

David Pender Richards is the chairman of Prodrive, chairman of Motorsport UK, former chairman of Aston Martin, a former team principal of the BAR and Benetton Formula One motor racing teams and as a co-driver, World Rally Champion in 1981. He lives with his wife, Karen, in Warwickshire and has three children. In the 2005 New Year Honours List Richards was appointed a CBE for his services to motorsport and in 2017 was inducted into the Motor Sport Hall of Fame and received the Spirit of Le Mans award from the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO). In 2019 he received the Autocar Outstanding Leader Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adtranz</span> Rail rolling stock manufacturer

Adtranz was a multi-national rail transportation equipment manufacturer with facilities concentrated in Europe and the US. The company, legally known as ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation was created in 1996 as a joint venture between ABB and Daimler-Benz to combine their rail equipment manufacturing operations. In 1999, DaimlerChrysler bought ABB's shares and changed the company's official name to DaimlerChrysler Rail Systems. The company was acquired by Bombardier Inc. in 2001, which merged it into its Bombardier Transportation division, which became the largest rail equipment manufacturer in the world at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar vehicle</span> Electric vehicle powered by solar energy

A solar vehicle or solar electric vehicle is an electric vehicle powered completely or significantly by direct solar energy. Usually, photovoltaic (PV) cells contained in solar panels convert the sun's energy directly into electric energy. The term "solar vehicle" usually implies that solar energy is used to power all or part of a vehicle's propulsion. Solar power may be also used to provide power for communications or controls or other auxiliary functions.

The Western Fuels Association is a $400 million consortium of coal suppliers and coal-fired utilities based in Westminster, Colorado. Western Fuels Association supplies coal and transportation services to consumer-owned electric utilities in the Great Plains, Rocky Mountain and Southwest regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HEVT</span>

The Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team of Virginia Tech, better known as HEVT, is a nationally recognized undergraduate student design team in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech. HEVT was formed in 1994 to compete in the 1995 Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) Challenge, one of the many competitions organized by the Argonne National Laboratory through the United States Department of Energy. HEVT has been involved in the Department of Energy Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions (AVTCs) ever since. HEVT attributes a significant amount of its success to their Advisor, Professor Doug Nelson in Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Nelson has received the Outstanding Faculty Advisor award at competition 3 times. He has greatly aided the education of students at Virginia Tech and helped the team succeed at competition The overall highlights of past competitions are as follows:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subaru Legacy</span> Motor vehicle

The Subaru Legacy is a mid-size car built by Japanese automobile manufacturer Subaru since 1989. The maker's flagship car, it is unique in its class for offering all-wheel drive as a standard feature, and Subaru's traditional boxer engine. The Legacy was sold as the Liberty in Australia out of deference to Legacy Australia, an organisation dedicated to caring for the families of military service veterans.

Fabrizio Guidi is an Italian former road bicycle racer. Guidi won over 40 races since he turned professional in 1995, including two stages in Giro d'Italia and three stages of 1998 Vuelta a España. He also won the Intergiro competition of Giro d'Italia in 1996, 1999 and 2000. He retired at the end of 2007 season, riding for the British team Barloworld.

Solectria Corporation was responsible for the design, engineering, and manufacturing of energy management components for industrial applications, including electric vehicles, parallel hybrid drivetrains, and power generation applications. It was founded in 1989 and based in Woburn, Massachusetts. In December 2004, Solectria was acquired by Azure Dynamics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tour de Sol</span> Solar powered vehicles

The Tour de Sol in Switzerland was the first rally for solar powered vehicles. It was carried out annually from 1985 to 1993. The first event started on June 25 in Romanshorn on the Lake of Constance, and finished on June 30 in Geneva. 72 vehicles started in two classes; over 50 finished. The vehicles were powered exclusively by direct onboard solar power in addition to an initial charge of the onboard accumulators. The second class also allowed direct human power with pedals. The rally was conceived as a kind of race with the winners being those using the least time to travel the set course each day. The course was on unclosed public roads and the drivers were required to adhere all traffic rules and speed limits. The first events were very popular with thousands of spectators lining the roads and visiting the camps where the vehicles stopped each day. In later years the fastest vehicles also raced on round-circuit closed-off courses each day after arriving at the stops. From 1990 the organisers also held separate events called Tour de Sol Alpine. These included closed courses on frozen lakes and snowy roads and on unclosed mountain passes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subaru</span> Japanese automobile manufacturing company

Subaru (スバル) is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Subaru Corporation, the twenty-first largest automaker by production worldwide in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camden Friends Meetinghouse</span> Historic church in Delaware, United States

Camden Friends Meetinghouse is a historic Quaker meeting house located on Delaware Route 10 in Camden, Kent County, Delaware. It was built in 1805, and was still in operation as a Quaker meeting house when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. A modern Camden Friends Meeting and Social Hall has been built behind the historic building, which now serves the meeting, and was designed to be energy-efficient and architecturally respectful of the historic building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford Motor Company</span> American multinational automobile manufacturer

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand, and luxury cars under its Lincoln luxury brand. Ford also owns Brazilian SUV manufacturer Troller, an 8% stake in Aston Martin of the United Kingdom and a 32% stake in China's Jiangling Motors. It also has joint ventures in China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is controlled by the Ford family; they have minority ownership but the majority of the voting power.

The Bosarge Family Education Center in Boothbay, Maine, United States is an 8,200-square-foot facility at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens built in 2011. It has attained LEED Platinum certification, the highest level that USGBC offers, and has become known as Maine's "greenest building." A 45 kW photovoltaic panel array provides 100% of the energy required to run the building. The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association's (NESEA) awarded it the 2013 Net Zero Energy Building Award. The building was designed by Scott Simons Architects of Portland, Maine and Mclay Architects of Waitsfield, Vermont.

References

  1. Bianchi, Mike (May 1994). "American Tour de Sol reports, 1994". Foveal Systems.
  2. Bianchi, Mike (May 1995). "American Tour de Sol reports, 1995". Foveal Systems.
  3. "American Tour de Sol 1995 Results". Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. May 1995. Archived from the original on May 14, 1998.
  4. Bianchi, Mike (May 1996). "American Tour de Sol reports, 1996". Foveal Systems.
  5. Bianchi, Mike (May 1997). "American Tour de Sol reports, 1997". Foveal Systems.
  6. "American Tour de Sol 1997: Race Summary". Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. May 25, 1997. Archived from the original on February 3, 1999.
  7. Bianchi, Mike (May 1998). "American Tour de Sol reports, 1998". Foveal Systems.
  8. "Welcome to The 1998 NESEA Tour de Sol !!!". Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. May 1998. Archived from the original on February 20, 1999.
  9. Bianchi, Mike (May 1999). "American Tour de Sol reports, 1999". Foveal Systems.
  10. "American Tour de Sol 1999". Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. May 1999. Archived from the original on December 3, 2000.