Yahoo – AFP,
Arthur Macmillan, 12 June 2014
 |
Iranian
students from the Qazvin Azad Islamic University test drives
the solar-powered
Havin-2 vehicle in Qazvin on June 2, 2014
|
It is not
easy for an Iranian to visit America. With no US embassy in Tehran since 1979,
obtaining a visa usually requires two costly trips to Dubai or Turkey.
A group of
Iranian students, however, have a far bigger problem -- they want to send a car
to the United States. Only then will they get on a plane.
The Havin-2
is no ordinary vehicle. Solar powered, its 4.5 metre (15 feet) carbon fibre
chassis resembles a giant door. The four wheels that lurk beneath its sprawling
white body are the only clue it is a car at all.
 |
Iranian
students from the Qazvin Azad
Islamic University assemble the solar-
powered Havin-2 vehicle for a test drive
in Qazvin on June 2, 2014
|
But the sad
reality is that the Havin-2 may never reach the start line.
"We
are really worried about it," says Mohammad Saadatmand, the mechanical
leader of the team from Qazvin Azad Islamic University, west of Tehran.
"To
think that we might not make it is almost too terrible to contemplate."
The road
block they face is more daunting than consular paperwork.
Standing in
their path are the sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States and other
world powers as punishment for a nuclear programme that many believe masks an
intention to develop an atomic bomb.
The
restrictions make transporting the Havin-2 by air cargo a logistical nightmare.
'Researchers, not terrorists'
The Iranian
team is confident it can hold its own against the mostly American field, which
includes the illustrious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The
question is whether they will get the chance.
 |
| Iranian students from Qazvin Azad Islamic University assemble the solar- powered Havin-2 vehicle for a test drive in Qazvin on June 2, 2014 |
Giving a
tour at the team's spartan workshop, where the Havin-2 lurks under a tarpaulin,
the prospect of being barred is writ large across his face.
"I
wish governments across the world would accept we are researchers, not
terrorists," he says.
The cargo
arms of Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa all refused to carry the
Havin-2, citing fears of breaching sanctions.
Sanctions
at heart of problems
Several
other companies set impractical conditions for carriage.
A letter
from the US Treasury Department appears to confirm that the car does not
require special authorisation if is being used "in a public conference,
performance, exhibition or similar event".
 |
| Iranian students from Qazvin Azad Islamic University assemble the solar-powered Havin-2 vehicle for a test drive in Qazvin on June 2, 2014 |
"It
has been very difficult," says Sue Eudaly, the event's team coordinator.
"We went to a senator, who directed us to the State Department who then
sent us to the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Ultimately, I guess we were
not a high priority case."
Last ditch
negotiations with a Tehran-based carrier are now under way.
Even then,
a delivery date no later than July 1, which the carrier is reluctant to
guarantee, leaves less than two weeks for the Havin-2 to clear customs in time
for the start of the race.
The costs
of sending the team and the car to America mean only 12 of the 18 students
involved, all of whom have obtained visas, will travel.
An ideal
testing ground
Located 160
kilometres (100 miles) from the capital, Qazvin has 300 days of sunshine a
year. Good roads stretch for miles across a largely barren desert landscape.
To ensure a
level playing field in the United States, all teams will rely on 516
photovoltaic panels, or solar cells, made in America and patched together in
Germany.
 |
Iranian
students from Qazvin Azad
Islamic University assemble the
solar-powered Havin-2
vehicle for a
test drive in Qazvin on June 2, 2014
|
The skill
and key to winning is understanding the course and detecting the angles of the
sun's rays during a day's racing, starting at 9am and ending at 6pm, with each
team using four drivers.
The Havin-2
reached a top speed of 110 kilometres per hour (70 mph) during testing, but the
team believes it is capable of 160 kilometres per hour in competition.
Beyond the
solar challenge's aim of promoting clean energy, a sense of national pride is
also palpable among Saadatmand and Malmali, who both took part in the same
event in Australia three years ago.
"We
want to show we are good, maybe even better than the rest of the world,"
Malmali says.
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