The Aurora Vehicle Association Inc is a group of volunteers dedicated to achieving extreme efficiency in transport and to demonstrating these technologies through competition, demonstrations, exhibitions, school visits and discussion forums.
It is a not for profit entity, its members pay annual fees and cover all of their own costs in participating in events. No member is paid or employed with Aurora.
Aurora is sustained by a group of understanding and visionary sponsors who provide services, materials and finances to the activities of the Association. We are housed in a CSIRO facility and hold office with Minter Ellison, Australia's largest lawyer group.
Aurora started in 1980 by building fuel [petrol] economy specials. Through 1983-85 it held the world record for fuel economy posting a high of 5107 miles per imperial gallon.
Aurora turned to solar car development in 1987 when Hans Tholstrup devised the first trans-continental World Solar Challenge. Aurora has been a contestant in every World Solar Challenge with an amazing record of 1 win, 4 seconds, 1 third, 1 fifth, 1 sixth and one crash.
Aurora has been proud to be assisted by some of Australia's leading Universities such as UNSW, UTS, Melbourne and RMIT and also a number of Australian providers of advanced technology such as CSIRO, AERL, Tritium, CAST, Armacel and MoTeC.
Our consistent direction is to search for ways of taking the technologies embodied in solar cars towards eventual application in publicly available cars.