Pretoria - The exciting UniSolar, a solar-powered car designed by engineering students from Unisa’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology, recently won the Solar Car Rookie Award at the 2023 Bridgestone Ilanga Cup and took second place in the cruiser category.
The Bridgestone Ilanga Cup is Southern Africa’s first closed-track endurance circuit event focusing on driving the innovation of renewable energy.
The event takes place annually and has been created for local solar car teams to put their solar vehicles to the test in a controlled environment, designed to measure the vehicle’s performance, efficiency, and durability.
This year, the challenge took place at the Red Star Raceway in Delmas (Mpumalanga) on October 4, 2023, and took the form of a 12-hour endurance test. Competitive solar car teams included both new and experienced teams.
The Unisa team referred to as “Uni-champs” designed the car at the Unisa Science Campus engineering laboratories.
The car managed to complete 32 laps of around four kilometres each. At the awards ceremony, the Unisa entry was awarded the Solar Car Rookie Award, as well as second place in the cruiser category.
Commenting on this year’s Unisa entry and its improvement on the university’s 2022 design, Professor Pita Mothibeli, team leader of College of Science, Engineering and Technology’s solar car project, had this to say: “This time around, we reduced the frame weight, increased the engine capacity from 5 kilowatts to 2 x 8 kilowatts, and increased the engine’s charging capacity.”
The competition brought together local solar car teams to showcase their cutting-edge designs and engineering solutions.
The competition also served as a platform to inspire future engineers, and to promote sustainability and environmental awareness.
The young Unisa team’s outstanding achievement is the latest highlight in the institution’s 2023 celebration of 150 years of excellence, themed, appropriately, Reclaiming Africa’s Intellectual Futures.
Pretoria News