This is progress?

This week I watched?a documentary series on YouTube?about the?World Solar Challenge (WSC), a 1,878 mile race for solar-powered vehicles across the Australian Outback. The Wikipedia article on the race states: "The event was created to foster the development of solar-powered vehicles." The inaugural WSC was held in 1987. The YouTube documentary covers the most recent edition of the race in 2019.

There are multiple classes of vehicle in the race. For example, Wikipedia describes the multi-seat?Cruiser?class:

"The 2017 Cruiser class winner, the five-seat?Stella Vie?vehicle, was able to carry an average of 3.4 occupants at an average speed of 69 km/h (43 mph). Like its two predecessors, the vehicle was successfully road registered by the Dutch team, further emphasizing the great progress in real-world compliance and practicality that has been achieved."

The fastest class of solar vehicle in the race, however, is the?Challenger?class and it was the 2019 competition for this class that the YouTube documentary followed. Vehicles in this class are single seaters and lack air conditioning in order to minimize weight (temperatures in the cockpit soared above 115 degrees fahrenheit). During the 2019 competition:

• Vehicles drove during the daylight hours between 8 AM and 5 PM.
• The average speed of the winning vehicle was 86.6 kph (53.8 mph).
• Two vehicles, the one from Team Stanford and the one from Team Vattenfall, experienced battery fires; the Vattenfall battery fire completely destroyed the vehicle.
• Two vehicles, the one from Team Twente and the one from Team Sonnenwagen, were blown off the road by high winds and crashed and/or rolled over.

Each vehicle was supported by a team of technicians. The documentary did not say if there was a limit on the size of a support team, but, judging from various scenes in the documentary, I estimate the size of the average team was 10-20 individuals.

So, let me see if I've got this straight: Soon I will be able to purchase a solar-powered vehicle that:

• drives only during daylight hours,
• holds maybe 4 people and averages maybe 55 mph,
• has no air conditioning, entertainment system, air bags or other safety features in order to minimize weight,
• may get blown off the road by high winds,
• may experience a battery fire and burn up,
• must be supported by a team of a dozen technicians.

This is progress?