[00:00.100]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.180]this is the Technology Report.
[00:05.050]Students at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa
[00:09.850]are building solar-powered cars and racing them in competitions.
[00:15.450]The University is training the students
[00:18.520]to become experts in different types of energy.
[00:22.170]Their 300-kilogram solar-powered car
[00:26.330]is traveling at more than 100 kilometers per hour
[00:30.340]through the South African countryside,
[00:33.160]and it is using less electric power
[00:36.410]than a small kitchen appliance.
[00:38.820]The young engineers who built the car
[00:41.750]drove it in the Solar Challenge,
[00:44.180]a national racing competition for cars
[00:47.590]that use alternative energy.
[00:49.770]Kegan Smith is the former manager of the project
[00:53.830]and a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg.
[00:57.550]He says the university wants the students
[01:00.720]to learn about green energies using realistic examples.
[01:06.060]"With what we do at the moment in fossil fuels,
[01:09.020]if we continue like this,
[01:10.790]there is not going to be a future.
[01:11.510]And if we do this kind of alternative energy,
[01:14.680]the cars are one application.
[01:16.040]But the nice thing with the cars
[01:17.600]it that it's a mindset change.
[01:18.600]If you can start shaping students' mind now,
[01:20.690]it's going to change the mindset of people in general.
[01:23.030]How do you use your lights?
[01:24.580]How do you use your electricity?" explained Smith.
[01:25.480]When he was a student in 2010,
[01:28.460]Mr Smith was part of a group
[01:30.970]that built a hybrid alternative-energy powered car.
[01:34.890]Since then, students have built more cars
[01:38.470]using both hydrogen and solar power.
[01:42.000]Warren Larter is also a former student,
[01:46.150]he is the university's solar car project manager.
[01:50.410]He says he does not expect solar-powered cars
[01:54.810]to be more popular than gasoline-powered cars,
[01:58.860]but Mr Larter says,
[02:00.800]they do offer an important learning tool
[02:04.160]to help students develop new technologies.
[02:07.370]"For us, it's a research thing.
[02:09.280]Our exact example is Formula One.
[02:11.420]You'll never see those cars on the road,
[02:13.280]but the technologies that go into them,
[02:15.170]you see it in every single car
[02:16.530]in every single household across the world.
[02:17.790]So that's where we are pushing it.
[02:19.430]This is our Formula One of alternative energy," said Larter.
[02:21.850]Warren Larter started a company
[02:24.440]that lets students to work on projects
[02:27.490]that private companies have expressed an interest in supporting.
[02:31.710]He says the energy market is changing,
[02:34.620]and there is a great need for engineers
[02:37.400]with more modern experience.
[02:39.910]"Locally, there is a lack of experts
[02:42.200]in alternative energy and in particular in solar technology.
[02:45.290]We seem to be importing a lot at this stage,
[02:47.530]which is not ideal… We should have the experts locally,
[02:50.780]so [a] project like this really pushes that.
[02:53.250]We have guys working with the solar panels,
[02:55.560]working on different aspect of the project.
[02:57.860]So instead of importing the guys and flying them
[03:00.730]in to work on this, we use the local guys,
[03:02.390]so they know just as much and can even do better
[03:05.230]than the international guys," said Larter.
[03:06.460]Kegan Smith agrees.
[03:08.830]"I got guys working on huge systems on the telecom sites,
[03:12.970]because that's what they did in the cars.
[03:14.140]So the experience they gain from the cars
[03:15.800]are now working towards it in the industry," said Smith.
[03:18.730]Warren Larter and his team of students
[03:22.210]are now working on a third car
[03:24.430]to enter into the next Solar Challenge in August 2014.
[03:29.580]They want to win the national competition
[03:32.600]and then compete internationally.
[03:35.930]And that is the Technology Report from VOA Learning English.