Tag Archives: Vattenfall Solar Team

Solar Car World Record

Posted on by
3

In 2020, I blogged about Brunel (then Vattenfall) Solar Team breaking their own world record to clock up 924 km in 12 solar-powered hours on the track, for an average of 77 km/h (see above).

I was busy at the time, but I need to mention that Agoria Solar Team from Belgium broke that record last month in their BluePoint Atlas, clocking up 1,051 km (653 miles) in 12 solar-powered hours on the track, for an average of 87.6 km/h or 54.4 mph (see below). Congratulations, zuiderburen! That’s going to be a tough record to beat.

Solar Challenge Morocco, Last Day

Posted on by
6

The five-day Solar Challenge Morocco is over. With sandstorms, flooded roads, and mountain passes having gradients of up to 12%, it was without a doubt the toughest solar car race in the world. Six Challenger Class cars competed (for details, see my illustrated teams list with social media links).

Solar Team Twente (NL, team 21) won the event (as well as winning the day, on adjusted timings). They were followed by:

In addition, Solaride, from Estonia, had the only Cruiser Class car, and raced in Adventure Class. The photograph in the graphic is from Solar Team Twente. Official results are here.

Solar Challenge Morocco, Day 4

Posted on by
Reply

Four days of the five-day Solar Challenge Morocco are over. Six Challenger Class cars are competing (see my illustrated teams list with social media links for details). Cars climbed to about 1,280 m today, before descending back to about 730 m. The conditions were also challenging, with roads awash with water.

Solar Team Twente (NL, team 21) holds their lead over Agoria Solar Team (KU Leuven, BE, team 8), with Vattenfall Solar Team (Delft, NL, team 3) in third place. The photograph is from Top Dutch. Official results are here.

Solar Challenge Morocco, Day 3

Posted on by
Reply

The Solar Challenge Morocco is ongoing, with the race running until 29 October. Six Challenger Class cars are competing (see my illustrated teams list with social media links for details). Cars climbed to about 1,280 m today, before descending back to about 700 m. The weather was also challenging, with clouds and sandstorms.

Solar Team Twente (NL, team 21) has taken the lead from Agoria Solar Team (KU Leuven, BE, team 8), with Vattenfall Solar Team (Delft, NL, team 3) in third place. The photograph is from Hans-Peter van Velthoven / Vattenfall. Official results are here.

Solar Challenge Morocco, Day 2

Posted on by
Reply

The Solar Challenge Morocco is ongoing, with the race running until 29 October. Six Challenger Class cars are competing (see my illustrated teams list with social media links for details). Cars climbed to about 1,690 m today, before descending to about 700 m. Some of the mountain roads had inclines of up to 12%.

Agoria Solar Team (KU Leuven, BE, team 8) is still in the lead overall, although Solar Team Twente (NL, team 21) finished first today. The photograph is from Sonnenwagen Aachen (DE, team 7). Official results are here.

Solar Challenge Morocco, Day 1

Posted on by
Reply

The Solar Challenge Morocco has begun, with the race running until 29 October. Six Challenger Class cars are competing (see my illustrated teams list with social media links for details). Cars climbed to about 1,850 m today, before descending to about 730 m.

Agoria Solar Team (KU Leuven, BE, team 8) is currently in the lead, followed by Solar Team Twente (NL, team 21), Vattenfall Solar Team (Delft, NL, team 3), and Top Dutch Solar Racing (NL, team 6). The photograph is from Agoria.

Solar Challenge Morocco begins

Posted on by
Reply

Scrutineering for the Solar Challenge Morocco has begun, with the race running from 25 to 29 October. Six Challenger Class cars are competing (see my illustrated teams list with social media links for details). The montage above (assembled from team instagram feeds) shows the cars:

That is one 4-wheel bullet car (Top Dutch), three 3-wheel bullet cars, and two 3-wheel asymmetrical catamarans. In addition, Solaride, from Estonia, has the only Cruiser Class car.

Update: qualification lap times were:

  • Top Dutch (NL, team 6): 02:17 (68.69 km/h)
  • Vattenfall (NL, team 3): 02:23 (65.81 km/h)
  • Agoria (BE, team 8): 02:25 (64.90 km/h)
  • Twente (NL, team 21): 02:30 (62.74 km/h)
  • Chalmers (SE, team 51): 02:45 (57.03 km/h)
  • Sonnenwagen Aachen (DE, team 7): car being repaired after an accident
  • Solaride (EE, team 1, Cruiser): –

Update: the route for the event is as follows (the map below shows elevation):

  • Day 1: Agadir to Zagora
  • Day 2: Zagora to Merzouga
  • Day 3: loop from Merzouga
  • Day 4: Merzouga to Zagora
  • Day 5: Zagora to Agadir

Vattenfall is presenting a delayed live feed of the race.

Six new solar cars

Posted on by
Reply

For solar car fans, here are six newly revealed cars. They will race at one or both of:

SCM  NL  Vattenfall Solar Team (Delft) 

Three-wheel (outrigger) challenger (new car: Nuna11) – this year will be the last year that Delft partners with Vattenfall. Starting in 2022, Brunel will be their main sponsor. They have been recruiting for the 2022 Sasol Solar Challenge, and will also race in Morocco. Their new car features an asymmetrical top surface (to create more downforce on the left wheel), a new motor cntroller (suitable for hills), and a LiFePO4 battery.


Credit (click image to zoom)

iESC  SCM  NL  Top Dutch Solar Racing 

Challenger (new car: Green Spirit) – they are hoping to race their new car in Morocco.


Credit (click image to zoom)

iESC  SCM  BE  Agoria Solar Team / KU Leuven 

Three-wheel (tadpole) challenger (new car: BluePoint Atlas) – they have built a new car to defend their title. It is named after the Atlas Mountains.


Credit (click image to zoom)

iESC  SCM  NL  Solar Team Twente 

Three-wheel (tadpole) challenger (new car: Red Horizon) – they have built a three-wheeler this year, and will race both at Zolder and in Morocco.


Credit (click image to zoom)

iESC  SCM  DE  Sonnenwagen Aachen 

Three-wheel (outrigger) challenger (new car: Covestro Photon) – this team did very well in 2019, in spite of being blown off the road. They are excited about racing at Zolder again. They will race 2 cars at Zolder: the new car (7) and the previous car (70).


Credit (click image to zoom)

iESC  TR  Solar Team Solaris (Dokuz Eylül University) 

Challenger (new car: S11) – they missed the last ESC, but hope to attend the next one with their new car.


Credit (click image to zoom)

The High School Solar Car Challenge: some physics

Posted on by
1

This year I am covering the (High School) Solar Car Challenge, as well as the upcoming university competitions. The high school event will take place at the Texas Motor Speedway on July 15–22 (with Covid protocols in place), and will be live-streamed via the event’s YouTube channel. Today I want to say something about high school solar cars in comparison to world-class cars.

 
Left: Cougar Spirit from Covenant Christian Academy is a high school car in the Advanced Classic Division / Right: Nuna11 is a world-class car from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands (picture by @lightatwork)

The two main drag forces operating on cars are rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag. The former is indicated in the chart below by red lines. It is a function of the product of the rolling resistance Crr of the tyres times the mass M of the car in kilograms.

The aerodynamic drag is indicated in the chart below by blue lines. It is a function of the product of the drag coefficient Cd of the body shape, the frontal area A of the car in square metres, and the square of the velocity.

The chart at the bottom of the page expresses the same information in terms of the power (in watts) required to overcome drag at various speeds.

At the world-class level, where special low-rolling-resistance tyres are available and cars glide through the air like a hot knife through butter (low values of Crr M and Cd A), the aerodynamic drag is much greater than the rolling resistance at race speeds, and shaving a few percent off the Cd A value becomes critical to winning. At high school level, with cars that students can afford and racing speeds from 15 to 50 km/h (10 to 30 mph), aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance are roughly similar, and reducing the weight of the car becomes especially important. Some of the high school classes do not permit hub motors, and for those cars, reducing drive train losses is also critical.

A few high school cars in the Advanced Division are both under 200 kg and quite aerodynamic this year (e.g. Invictus from the Iron Lions and Lumidos from Oregon Solar Car Team), so it will be very interesting to see how they perform.

Solar Car META-Teams

Posted on by
Reply

In this post, I want to distinguish solar car teams from what I’m calling “meta-teams.” The core team is made up of the students who build and race the car, including the sponsorship, media, and logistics sub-teams. The meta-team is everybody else.


The team from Delft celebrating their 2017 WSC win in the fountain (photo: Anthony Dekker)

Alumni

The most important part of the meta-team may be the team alumni. These former members of the team have valuable experience, and often retain a strong interest in the ongoing team. Indeed, in some cases, “you can’t chase them off with a stick” (to quote one of the Dutch teams). Tapping into alumni expertise is especially important in the Dutch model, where each race cycle starts with a brand-new team of novices.

Many solar car teams would probably benefit from improved alumni relations – things like a database of alumni contact details, or regular social events with alumni.

Recruitment Panels

The Dutch model of solar car teams also includes a formal recruitment process for the new team. The recruitment panel includes alumni, but it may also contain professional HR staff brought in for the occasion.

Hands-On Sponsors

Solar car teams all rely on sponsorship, but some sponsors are more hands-on than others. In-kind sponsors offering a product or service may also provide training in using that product or service, and this can be extremely valuable.

Sponsors may also provide business help. In 2017, the team from Delft had their battery pack stranded in Singapore; the airline refused to carry it further. This could have been a catastrophe, but they reached out to their major sponsor, who was able to help them negotiate a solution involving road transport to another city, and a flight with another airline.


An artist’s view of Delft’s 2017 emergency battery flight (photo: Vattenfall Solar Team)

Faculty Advisors and University Support Staff

Faculty advisors are university staff who provide technical engineering advice. Some teams rely on them more than others, but the WSC’s requirement for a “certifying engineer” means that every team needs at least one.

Complementing the faculty advisors are university support staff who provide help with sponsorship, media, and logistics. The App State team lists university support staff and faculty advisors together on their website.

Coaches

Coaches accompany teams into the field, and assist with issues of team dynamics and morale. Dutch teams have especially benefited from having coaches.


The late Wubbo Ockels coached the team from Delft for several years (photo: Jorrit Lousberg); Erik is the coach for Top Dutch Solar Racing (photo: TDSR)

Photographers and Other Technical Specialists

Several teams will bring in a professional photographer for the race. These have included Jorrit Lousberg (Vattenfall/Delft), Hans-Peter van Velthoven (Vattenfall/Delft), Bart van Overbeeke (Eindhoven), and Jerome Wassenaar (Twente).

Other technical specialists are also sometimes brought in. In 2013, Solar Team Twente took along a weatherman from the Joint Meteorological Group of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. In 2015, the Belgian team took along a similar expert from the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (who also blogged his experiences).

Who is on your meta-team?