Solar Racer News

[alain-chuzel]

Not to rain on anyone’s parade but college students have pretty much always, more or less, made the world’s fastest solar-powered EVs and they’ve been doing it since, at least, the mid 1990’s.

Regarding the width, consider writing to the team via one of their social media “channels” and simply asking. If you don’t get a satisfactory response, let me know and I’ll query my contacts.

[randy-j]

I’m unable to message Andrea Holden on LinkedIn. Don’t have the premium membership

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-holden-b973a91a3/

I watched this a few weeks ago, in it he mentions the next World Solar competition is in 2023. How cool would it be for an Aptera to be there? What a photo op that would be.

World Solar Challenge – How did it all begin?

https://youtu.be/r5PA-aKoeLI

This links to a better written article:

Aussie EV record breakers! Sunswift 7 goes 1000km on a single charge in world’s best time

It weighs just 500kg, about one-quarter that of a Tesla, and boasts superb efficiencies thanks to its aerodynamic design, the efficiency of the motors and throughout the drive chain, plus incredibly low rolling resistance.

The record attempt was not without drama, with a battery management issue causing the car to come to a complete halt at one point. The rules of the event stated Sunswift 7 could not be stationary for more than 15 minutes at a time – and it took the team 14 minutes and 52 seconds to fix the problem and get back onto the track.

Ultimate efficiency

Team Principal, Professor of Practice Richard Hopkins, says the world record shows what is possible and what can be achieved, albeit with a significant weight advantage over road legal cars which require a host of features, such as airbags and an air conditioning systems, that Sunswift 7 does not include.

• This reply was modified 11 months, 1 week ago by  Randy J.

[alain-chuzel]

I’m sure if you go to their website or facebook you’ll find an email address to write to.

[chakman-yeung]

I was at Formula Sun Grand Prix this past June/July, and my “favorite” car was Polytechnique Montreal’s, is a bit closer to home 😅. If memory serves me well, they won in the Multi-Occupant Vehicle class and finished all of American Solar Challenge without needing to use the external charging allowance (comes with a time penalty, of course).

• This reply was modified 11 months, 1 week ago by  ChakMan Yeung. Reason: Delete extraneous HTML tags

[alain-chuzel]

Polytechnique Montreal was head and shoulders above the field and they did, indeed, win the FSGP (track) event and would easily have won the ASC (road) event but for a missed turn!

Were you with a team? If so, which one? Maybe we bumped into each other. My wife and I really enjoyed our time with all the teams and we’re looking forward to the 2023 event.

[chakman-yeung]

I was embedded with The University of Texas to do media, but ended up doing media for the entire event instead. I was the one who did the recap video for scrutineering and the event itself.

I was part of The University of Texas team from 2005-2009 (Samsung Solorean) and have been working in industry since.

[alain-chuzel]

Well thank you for all the media work you did! My wife and I are the solar array “scrutineers” and while FSGP is going on I’m part of the cold/hot pit crew and the wife is in the air conditioned comfort of “headquarters”.

With respect to UT-Austin, we (SunCat Solar) had the pleasure of working with Dr. Gary Hallock in the making the first set of solar panels for “TexSun”. It was quite some time ago…..

[oussama-rahmouni]

The turning radius on this thing must be terrible because of the covered front wheels. I don’t know how such a design would be viable for commercial vehicles.

[alain-chuzel]

Generally, the “covers” open as the front wheels are turned. Turning radius is fine.

[chakman-yeung]

That’s right, American Solar Challenge indirectly tests for that in their dynamics testing: Each car has to be capable of doing Figure 8’s and slaloms at a pretty decent clip.

[alain-chuzel]

Very good point! At least in the U.S. , dynamics testing at the solar race car events can be pretty brutal.

[Solana]

Just finished watching “Light Speed” from Seeker YouTube channel.

“Engineering the World’s Fastest Solar Race Cars”

This 6 episode documentary covers the 2019 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. 2019 is the most recent event, next one will be held this Oct 2023

A fascinating story about solar powered vehicles and just how difficult this 2,000 mile race is.

I highly recommend watching.

[alain-chuzel]

Of the 11 editions I’ve attended, the 2019 edition of the World Solar Challenge was the most “epic”. Among others, I hand built the Multi-Junction GaAs solar arrays for Red E and Michigan and, contrary to Aptera’s dismissive and sometimes outright wrong assertions, the arrays I and others have built for these solar racers can be compound curved, can and do last many years and can be touched….

[steveball357gmail-com]

It’s a great watch and gives everyone an idea how much sunshine we have down here

[alain-chuzel]

👍

[david-marlow]

U of Mich solar race car Astrum, also is being helped by Roush.

Manufacturing operations are already in full swing! Currently, are fully engaged in composites manufacturing, which involves the fabrication of Astrum’s aerobody. This intricate process entails the hand-laying of carbon fiber, and we are fortunate to have the support of Roush, a renowned manufacturer with exceptional facilities and expertise.

[alain-chuzel]

Michigan Solar Car has a long history with Roush. What’s weird is their vehicles tend to be quite heavy compared to some of their Western European and Japanese competitors. I’ve asked a few of those competitors why they think Michigan builds heavy solar cars and they jokingly, I think, respond with Michigan is NASCAR centric while the European/Japanese teams are F1 centric.

[david-marlow]

Astrum, University of Michigan’s new Solar racer. it has 3 wheels and is super aerodynamic, only caries the driver. It has increased efficencys, is stablier and better batteries and solar cells over the previous models.

https://news.engin.umich.edu/2023/07/astrum-solar-car-shoots-for-the-stars-by-pushing-energy-efficiency/

• This reply was modified 4 months ago by  David Marlow.
• This reply was modified 3 months, 3 weeks ago by  Gabriel Kemeny.

[alain-chuzel]

I’ve had the pleasure of building the solar panels for the team that built/raced the 2019 car. It used rather unique multi-junction GaAs solar cells made by Spectrolab. With the very odd shape of the cells, developing the tooling needed to properly “nest” them was a lot of fun! (see pic of reverse current test of such cells)

We’re currently working with the team to build an even better array for Astrum then what’s currently on the car. The FirstSolar collaboration is yielding some interesting developments. The rules for this year’s World Solar Challenge ban GaAs solar cells so we’re kinda stuck with silicon (like Maxeon) and I’m learning that Maxeon’s may not be the best silicon cells to use anymore. Stay tuned!

[ray-holan]

Alain, excited to hear about the engineering details from our “inside man.”

[alain-chuzel]

😉

[Mike-Mars]

Nice

How much do those multijunction cells cost? I’m assuming a lot given that I think they’re usually only used for satellites …

[alain-chuzel]

I don’t know what Michigan paid for the particular 3-J GaAs cells they had sent to me from Spectrolab but the import documents for the smaller 3-J GaAs cells (30.18 cm^2) I used on two other similar projects had a value of 168,000.00 euro in 2019 for 3.05 square meters. Here’s the link to the spec sheet if you’re interested: https://www.azurspace.com/images/pdfs/0003568-02-00_DB_3T34C.pdf

[Mike-Mars]

Very impressive, thank you

[craig-merrow]

Wow, that’s some really impressive stuff! A lot of interesting and exciting things going on as the technology evolves.

[alain-chuzel]

The tech that’s in some of the solar race teams from Europe is quite impressive as well. For a taste, check out the following:

Dutch : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88RNlezHVpk

Belgium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vwAHpZEwkw

Germany: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD6AQtPlHZ8