It’s a gruelling challenge of brains and brawn, where the Dutch Nuon Solar team has taken the top step of the podium at the 2018 Sasol Solar Challenge.
The nine teams competing in this year’s Solar Car Challenge completed a combined distance of 16,249 kilometres, of which the winning team has raked in 4,030 km.
Nuon has only narrowly beaten the Tokai University Solar Car Team that completed a total distance of 3,941 km in the trek that saw teams stopping over in 18 towns between Pretoria and Stellenbosch.
On the local front, the Tshwane University of Technology’s Sun Chaser 3 completed a respectable distance of 2,397 kilometres, despite a solar panel blowing off on the first day. This resulted in the team having to perform significant repairs.
In spite of this setback for TUT, though, the North-West University’s Phoenix just couldn’t catch the Sun Chaser, recording a still impressive 2,276 km distance.
The Sonke High school team – competing with their first ever solar car – covered a total distance of 657 kilometres. The team, which consists of pupils from two schools, says they hope to compete again in the future given sponsorship opportunities.
“This was a very tough round of the Sasol Solar Challenge because we significantly reduced the size of the solar arrays that teams were allowed to use,” said founder and director of the event, Winstone Jordaan.
Even despite the 33% reduction in space, the top-ranking teams still managed to reach 80% of the performance levels they achieved in previous years.
“This means that there has been an incredible improvement in efficiency,” Jordaan added.
