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Solar Challenge: showing what's possible with sustainable technology

The UKZN racing team

The UKZN racing team

6th October 2014

By: Kim Cloete

Creamer Media Correspondent

  

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A gruelling eight-day endurance race from Pretoria to Cape Town in cars powered only by the sun has ended with a team from the Netherlands scooping first position. The Nuon student team from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands won the Sasol Solar Challenge 2014.

The Anadolu Solar Team from Anadolu University, in Turkey, came second, with the third spot going to the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). North West University and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) were in fourth and fifth place respectively.

The elated Nuon Solar team celebrated at the finish line at the University of Cape Town after clocking an impressive total distance of 4 228 km, 1 500 km more than its closest competitor.

The ten teams competed not on speed but on how far they could travel in the solar powered cars. The teams had the option of completing driving loops varying from 58 km to 132 km to clock up extra kilometres.

“We’re so excited about winning. This is a great way to show the world what is possible in terms of sustainable technology,” Nuon team leader Niels Berger told Engineering News.

The cars were very different in design but the solar panel had to be a maximum size of 9 m2.

Race director Winstone Jordaan said the race aimed to give student engineers a platform to practice what they’ve learnt and drive their own innovation – and to encourage schoolchildren to get involved and excited about science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“Engineering is what will unlock the value of South Africa,” he stated.

The Sasol Solar Challenge also incorporated an education programme involving nearly 200 schools on the route. Many learners built their own model solar-powered cars.

Jordaan said the race had produced the kind of engineering students that companies would want to snap up.

“Many of them have spent months working on these cars and preparing for the race, often under huge pressure. Being able to do this and demonstrate such commitment during the race shows they would be rock-solid engineers.”

Saien Rugeo, a fourth-year engineering student at UKZN, said the race had been a life-changing experience.

“To interact with so many different people and see different interpretations of the project and how to make the most of solar cars was awesome.”

For the UJ team, which had the smallest and lightest car in the race, perseverance and dedication paid off.

On day three, the car had an accident close to Port Elizabeth, breaking the chassis and putting them out of the race. But they were undeterred.

“We had to rebuild the suspension. We worked for 18 hours nonstop. It was exhausting, but we fixed the car and carried on with the race,” said UJ mechanical engineering lecturer and project manager Nickey Janse van Rensburg.

She said the build-up to the race and the eight-day challenge had been a huge learning curve. “This race equips engineers for the real world. They have schedules and pressures and unexpected challenges.”

Janse van Rensburg said she hoped the experience would encourage young engineers to constantly innovate.

“Engineers can’t just plug into the system. They need to create the system.”

The UJ team won the award for technology and innovation for building a smaller car with more technologically advanced solar panels.

Gregor Kupper, MD of SolarWorld Africa, which supplied solar electricity to the Sasol caravan – the mobile race office – said it was vital to push the boundaries of local design.

“We have started a dialogue which holds enormous potential for collaboration, knowledge transfer and innovation in global solar mobility. This will help put South African solar innovation on the map.”

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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