Team Sonnenwagen participated in the world's toughest solar car race across the Australian outback for the third time in a row, which took place between October 22 to 29. The Covestro Adelie, so named because its shape resembles an Adelie penguin, one of the most aerodynamic animals in the world, was developed by 51 students from the universities of RWTH and FH Aachen, specifically to compete in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, an international event in which global teams drive their self-built solar cars 3000 kilometres from Darwin to Adelaide.
The team won its qualifying round and started the final race in the pole position. The car raced at an average of 80 kilometres per hour despite high winds. It was standing in fourth position when it was forced to retire after a crash south of Port Augusta. The team said the driver lost control of the vehicle after a road train had passed.
"Of course, risk always rides along, especially if you want to achieve a top position," said Simon Zaers from Team Sonnenwagen. “Nevertheless, our intensive development work of around two years really paid off, especially because we also attached importance to a safe design. It played its part in ensuring that no one was injured in the accident. We were also able to gain a lot of valuable experience for the construction of our next solar runabout, with which we would like to participate in the World Solar Challenge 2025. Together with the other teams, we continue to pursue our goal of enabling more sustainable mobility with innovative designs – powered only by the power of the sun.”
The Innoptus Solar Team, from the University of Leuven in Belgium, repeated its 2019 feat and won the race in a time of 34 hours, 4 minutes, and 41 seconds – 48 minutes faster than their 2019 win. The Netherlands’ Team Twente RED X came in second with a time of 34 hours, 24 minutes, 58 seconds. Dutch team Brunel arrived in Adelaide around two hours later, to take third place.
The structure of the Covestro Adelie is 16% lighter than its predecessor, and the chassis weighs a fifth less. Covestro’s materials contributed to these improvements with, for example, a prepreg sandwich layup.
The three-wheeled car is powered by the solar cells on its rooftop. The 567 mono-silicon cells - covering an area of 4m2 - are wired to cover 96% of the total surface area. The generated solar energy is fed into a self-built battery pack that can store more than 6kWh, equivalent to a range of 600 km.
"After the race is before the race," sums up Lina Schwering, 1st Chairwoman of Team Sonnenwagen. "We will also learn from this competition and continue to optimise our design with a partially new team, just as the other teams are doing. There are very many parameters on whose interaction the race will be decided, and consistency and the will to consistently learn from experience will ultimately lead to the goal. However, this race has also shown us that in the end it also depends on a certain quantum of luck."
The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is run by the South Australian Motor Sport Board in partnership with Northern Territory Major Events. It has become the world’s foremost innovation challenge. The BWSC events attract around 1,000 - 1500 participants every edition. In the week preceding the event, teams must pass a series of practical safety and compliance tests to qualify for the start line.
