Brunel Solar Team

The Brunel Solar Team's mission is to inspire the world in the field of innovation and sustainable mobility.

After watching the movie ‘Race the sun’, where a handful of high school kids built a car on solar power, a dream was planted in the heads of a group of TU Delft students. They decided to build a solar car and participate in the World Solar Challenge of 2001. They could not do this alone and asked Wubbo Ockels, first Dutch astronaut and professor at the TU Delft, to be their team coach. He agreed but under one condition, that they would win the race. So, they started building, racing and as promised to Wubbo, became the winner of the 2001 race. This win was new for the competition, a newcomer had never won the race before.

Ever since the first team won their debut at the World Solar Challenge in 2001, the goal has been clear: to promote the awareness of the power of sustainable energy through innovation. By participating in solar races all over the world, the team wants to show the world the possibilities of solar power and push the limits of technology.

Type
Dream Team

Target audience
Bachelor/Master

Projects

Bridgestone World Solar Challenge

This biennial challenge gives teams the opportunity to build a solar car to race through the 3000 km outback route of Australia. The race starts in Darwin in the North of Australia, and ends in the Southern located Adelaide. The challenge features three classes that represent the diversity of solar vehicles. The Brunel Solar Team has so far always participated in the challenger class. In this class, the vehicles are designed to most efficiently complete the 3000 km route. The team participated 11 times and holds a record of the most wins in the history of the challenge.

Sasol Solar Challenge

Since 2014 the team also participated in the Sasol Solar Challenge in South Africa. Because the World Solar Challenge is once every two years, the team saw the opportunity to expand their knowledge and participate in an extra challenge. The goal of this race is to drive the most kilometres in eight days. This is done by driving loops to gain extra kilometres. Nuna 12s mission is to defend the title in South Africa and will do everything possible to win for the 5th time in a row!

Groups

TEAM FUNCTIONS:

Management
Partnerships
Public Relations
Electrical Engineer
Mechanical Engineer
Software Engineer
Strategist
Aerodynamics
Structures