TUT launches exciting new solar car

14 September 2018

Celebrating ten years of participation in Sasol’s solar challenge, the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (FEBE) will launch its exciting, new-look solar car, Sun Chaser 3, today, 14 September. The event will take place at the Prestige Auditorium, Building 21 at 16:00.

The 10th grueling seven-day Sasol solar challenge race will hit the road on 22 September at Menlyn Maine Time Square in Pretoria and end in Braak, Stellenbosch on 29 September.

According to team leader, Johannes de Vries, the new regulations in terms of solar panel size, posed some challenges in the design and manufacture of the solar car.  He added that the focused primarily on increasing the aerodynamics, as well as reducing the weight and size of the car, since there is less solar energy available to it.  

He added that most of the mechanical components for Sun Chaser 3 was manufactured in-house at TUT.

Sponsored by industries such as Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), RS Components, Hellukabel, Hulamin, MECAD, Yokogawa and a powerful group of engineering supervisors from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics and Materials Engineering, the team is bound to excel in the 2018 race.

For more information on the Tshwane University of Technology, please contact Willa de Ruyter, Corporate Affairs and Marketing.
Tel: +27 12 382 5352   Email: deruyterw@tut.ac.za