Happening in Topeka, Kansas, from June 27 by July 2 at Heartland Motorsports Park, this 12 months’s Electrek Formula Sun Gran Prix places a global group of twenty-two+ college’s photo voltaic automobile groups towards one another in an on-track race.

The photo voltaic vehicles shall be on the monitor June 30, 10 am to six pm, and July 1-2, 9 am to five pm, finishing as many laps as attainable on solar energy. Admission is free, and we shall be there. Be a part of us!

EVs, photo voltaic, batteries, engineering, school groups, racing… That is what we’re about at Electrek. That’s why we’re sponsoring the occasion together with Blue Origin, Heartland Motor Sports activities, and extra to return.

But it surely isn’t simply us that retains a detailed eye on these photo voltaic racers. You will need to observe that EV, battery, and photo voltaic firms, together with Tesla, fastidiously watch these occasions as effectively.

Actually, Tesla’s cofounder and former CTO (and attainable future board member) JB Straubel participated in Stanford’s Solar Car team and famous (beginning at about 11 minutes within the video beneath):

“Photo voltaic automobile workforce’s applied sciences are sometimes forward of their time in time period of taking a look at subsequent finest technology of batteries, finest photo voltaic panels, finest motors and converters, issues like that…Most of my involvement with the photo voltaic automobile workforce was towards the top of my keep at Stanford. I had many pals that had been a part of that workforce all through my time there and I recruited the general public from the workforce, and we began Tesla. It was a key factor initially of Tesla.”

After all, Tesla and different EV automakers and photo voltaic/battery companies are nonetheless recruiting from these groups:

“I feel it issues greater than most lessons you may take. I imply it’s certainly one of issues that even as we speak at Tesla we take a look at resumes and we take into account increased than GPAs and maybe even increased than what lessons they determined right here and there.”

We’ll have extra data as race time nears. Keep an eye on the website as well.

Beginning June 27, the photo voltaic vehicles will start scrutineering – a sequence of inspections – together with mechanical and electrical methods, physique & sizing, dynamic testing, and extra. Groups that go ‘scrutineering’ will then put their photo voltaic vehicles to the check within the 3-day monitor occasion, working June 30-July 2 with 24 whole hours of drive time (three 8-hour days) on solar energy. Groups are given outlined morning and night charging hours to recharge the photo voltaic automobile’s batteries with the automobile’s photo voltaic array. The Method Solar Grand Prix is far more about reliability, adjusting for climate circumstances, and strategic vitality administration than uncooked pace, although that doesn’t imply groups received’t additionally go for the bragging rights of quickest lap!

Innovators Instructional Basis is a 501c3 non-profit that organizes photo voltaic automobile occasions in america, together with the American Photo voltaic Problem (highway occasion) and the Method Solar Grand Prix (monitor occasion), to offer hands-on, multi-disciplined studying alternatives for school college students. The Method Solar Grand Prix just isn’t in any manner related or affiliated with the Method 1 firms, FORMULA 1 racing, or the FIA Method One World Championship.

When you or your organization want to chip in on this occasion or get extra data, contact Gail Lueck, occasion director, at [email protected]