The Brunel team in action
The Brunel Solar Team from the Netherlands has won the 2022 Sasol Solar Challenge, followed by the Agoria team, from Belgium, with the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) team placed third.
Brunel won with a distance of 4 228.2 km, with Agoria at 4 189.9 km, and TUT some distance back, at 2 682.4 km.
The solar challenge is a distance-based race, and not a timed race, with the team harvesting the most kilometres from the sun during the event declared the winner.
The race started in Johannesburg on September 9, with the teams driving across five provinces and through 18 towns to reach Cape Town on September 16.
“A key focus of the Sasol Solar Challenge is to bring our youth closer to science, technology, engineering, maths, and alternative energy innovations and, in so doing, give them the opportunity to experience these concepts hands-on in order to have a better understanding of how these sectors can benefit our society,” says Sasol group communication and brand management VP Elton Fortuin.
“In the past eight days this is exactly what the teams have done and we are proud to have touched many young minds and hopefully inspired curiosity and passion in science and technology.”
Other awards for the 2022 event include the navigation award, won by the University of the Free State solar car team, with Agoria again on the podium for winning the award for covering the longest distance in a day, at 609.4 km.
The biennial Sasol Solar Challenge is now in its fourteenth year.