Fifty students from the University of Applied Sciences Bochum worked hard for over a year to develop a solarracer for the future generation: The SolarWorld No.1!We met one of them at the ecomove, the trade fair and congress for sustainable mobilty in berlin, where the latest trends in green mobility has been shown and discussed.Enjoy our video!

Fifty students from the University of Applied Sciences Bochum worked hard for over a year to develop a solarracer for the future generation: The SolarWorld No.1! At the World Solar Challenge in Australia the solarracer performed excellently. We interviewed Lars-Daniel Uhlhorn and Christoph Bönneken, two of the students who drove the SolarWorld No.1, just after they returned from Australia.
How did the SolarWorld No.1 Team perform at the World Solar Challenge? Lars-Daniel Uhlhorn: The team took 4th place in its class, with an average speed of approx. 73km/h.Christoph Bönneken: If you look at the competition from other international elite universities, with substantially more resources, the thankless fourth place immediately loses all of its bitter aftertaste. And the prize for “Best Challenge Class Design” is just the icing on the cake.
How long were you on the road for? And how did the SolarWorld No.1 acquit itself over this marathon distance?

Uhlhorn: Including a short enforced stop in Alice Springs, we were underway for six days. Finishing at exactly the right time, our car acquitted itself bravely. A small malfunction in the fairing at the beginning, and a tyre change on the front chassis, still couldn’t put our 4th place in danger. Bönneken: The total race time for the 3000km from Darwin to Adelaide was 41 hours, spread over five days. Tyre change right before the start

Who drove the SolarWorld No.1 at the World Solar Challenge? How big was your team in Australia overall?
Bönneken: In total, there were 48 team members, including students, professors and people affiliated with the FH, with us in Australia. Of these there were four drivers who shared the distance. The drivers were Christoph Bönneken, Lars Daniel Uhlhorn, Matthias Wilm and Christian Wulfert.
What difficulties did you have along the way?

Uhlhorn: There were various problems during preparation, both electrical and mechanical. For example, one of our rear brakes malfunctioned. In addition, the adjustment of our car to the climatic conditions in Australia represented a significant challenge. On the other hand, it took a lot of effort to handle the organization of such a large team. The most important thing, however, was to prepare the solar car so well that we were able to complete the distance of 3000km through Australia with as few problems as possible.Bönneken: The preparation and test drives prior to the starting gun were horrific. The completed car arrived in Australia, and didn’t work anymore. At least in terms of the electrics. It’s unbelievable, the impact that a bit of humidity can have. On one test drive the front wheel fairing, which is very important for the aerodynamics, broke. On top of that, one of the brakes was regularly blocked. Luckily we have a few very dedicated and capable people in the team, who managed to get all of these problems under control.SolarWorld No.1 on the final spurt
What were the most impressive experiences for you over the course of the race?

Uhlhorn: The most impressive thing was definitely the surroundings in which the race was conducted, as well as the fact that we had a team which functioned so well, and which managed to work together so well for the entire race, in order to get the optimum performance out of our car. Bönneken: It was great to observe how much more professional the team became over these few days. On the second day a simple overtaking maneuver turned into a really nervous, frustrating task, which resulted in a lot of things going wrong and a lot of energy being lost. Subsequent overtaking maneuvers proceeded substantially more smoothly, thanks to better planning.
How exactly is the SolarWorld No.1 powered, and what sort of performance does it exhibit?

Uhlhorn: Our car is powered by an electric motor, which is built into the front wheel rim, and which allows us an average speed of over 70km/h over 3000km, and a high speed of approx. 120km/h. The energy necessary for this is delivered by 6m2 solar cells, which are embedded in the body. Bönneken: SolarWorld No.1 has a so-called “In-Wheel-Motor”. This is a highly efficient electric motor, which is mounted inside the rim of the front wheel. The motor we used has a 94% degree of efficiency.
What is special about the SolarWorld No.1 compared to other solar racers?

Uhlhorn: Our car has a beautiful design, and features a very comfortable seat position for the driver. It is the car which bears the most similarity to today’s popular mass produced cars. Bönneken: SolarWorld No.1 is the only solar vehicle in the world which comes close to our normal everyday cars in terms of its operation, seat position and external dimensions, and therefore remains competitive with the typical ultra-flat, futuristic solar vehicles. This was also reflected in winning the "Best Challenge Class Design Award“.
How long did you need to develop the solar racer? What difficulties had to be resolved along the way?

Uhlhorn: The development took approx. two years, and the difficulties lay mainly in the construction and production of our racer, as most of us started to develop the car as laymen, and many work processes, techniques etc. first had to be learnt. Additionally, there was a massive change in the rules one year before the challenge, so that our original design had to be completely discarded, and an entirely new shell developed.
SolarWorld No.1 at the finish
What conclusions will you take from the race for mobile solar technology?

Uhlhorn: I will take with me the realization that you can move a lot of car quickly with little energy.Bönneken: My personal conclusion is that with too much technology, you also create a lot of problems. The demands we placed on our vehicle were high. If you want to build a solar powered racing car, you should have a good think about which functions you really need, and then realize these with high-quality technology. Anything luxurious guzzles up too many resources in the implementation, and is also additional weight.
To what extent can solar energy become the automotive technology of the future?

Uhlhorn: This technology will not be suited to commercial implementation in the foreseeable future, as it is not effective enough. Furthermore, it is too expensive to be a real alternative. In addition, our region is not ideal in terms of sun. Bönneken: There will never be solar vehicles suitable for everyday use which obtain all their energy from their own solar cells. At our latitudes, the sun delivers 1kW/m2. SolarWorld No.1 has 6m² of solar cells. Even at a 100% degree of efficiency, that would only be 6kW. That is only just enough for vehicles which weigh 300kg, including the driver. The engines of today’s small cars deliver approx. 50 kW.
Will the FH Bochum take part in the World Solar Challenge again next year?Uhlhorn: At the moment it’s impossible to say how our project will continue to develop, but I hope that we can compete with a further improved car at the WSC in two years, to be able to once again amaze the audience.Bönneken: The Panasonic World Solar Challenge takes place every two years. Whether we start again next time has not yet been decided. First, we have to explore which team members want to continue to commit, and how many new members we can attract. For next year, however, we plan to take part in the North American Solar Challenge as well as in a race in South Africa.To learn more about the SolarWorld No. 1, read also our blog "Pole Position for Solar Power"!