The vehicles will have to cross the Chilean Atacama Desert, the driest in the world

Nov 16, 2012 13:38 GMT  ·  By

Only yesterday, Chile witnessed the debut of the second of its kind Atacama Solar Race.

This means that, between November 15-19, 15 solar-powered vehicles (and their crews) will be showing off their skills of dealing with the driving conditions brought forth by the desert. Sources say that these environmentally-friendly vehicles will have to travel over 1,286 kilometers, and that whichever completes the journey first will be declared the winner.

The participants come from Chile, Argentina, Venezuela and India, and apparently they are all quite ready to face the intense heat and the desert.

This competition's goal is that of encouraging the development of vehicles whose ecological footprint has been reduced to a considerable extent.

Some of the cars enrolled in this competition run on solar power alone, whereas others are simply hybrids.