Europe’s fastest solar car
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En consonancia con nuestro amplio alcance industrial como empresa líder en el sector de los polímeros, los proyectos que presentamos aquí abarcan campos de aplicación muy diversos, desde industrias tradicionales como el sector de la automoción hasta tecnologías más recientes como la impresión 3D. No obstante, son solo la “punta del iceberg” en relación con la gran cantidad de historias de innovación que hemos escrito junto con nuestros clientes y socios.
Two-year design phase
For almost two years, Team Sonnenwagen worked intensively on the design of its current Covestro Adelie solar race car. The goal: to participate in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia. The solar car race is probably the toughest competition of its kind in the world, covering a distance of more than 3,000 kilometers across the Australian outback from Darwin to Adelaide – without any fuel or charging station.
Before the team set off for Down Under in their highly efficient, self-built car, they made another stop at Covestro's headquarters in Leverkusen. On the grounds behind the campus building, the students took their Adelie for several laps in public for the first time. Covestro shares the young people's enthusiasm for more sustainable mobility as well as the use of renewable energy.
Multidisciplinary team
Even during the two-year development period of the Covestro Adelie, the teamwork of the approximately 50 students led to success: aerodynamics, electrical engineering, driving strategy, chassis, drive system and structure interlock perfectly. More than 200,000 hours of calculations were required to optimize the exterior shape, plus 10,000 workshop hours for the bodywork and many more days for electrical and mechanical components and the development of the driving strategy.
A lot of work, heart and soul and the concentrated experience from our three predecessor models have gone into the Covestro Adelie.
This is where Covestro comes in, because the Aachen-based team had and still has many questions around the use of materials. They are an important factor in the struggle to win the solar race through the Australian outback. For the components, it's not just about lightweight, strength and aerodynamics, but also about withstanding strong mechanical shocks as well as extreme climatic conditions such as heat, humidity and high UV radiation. Covestro is sending a number of raw materials into the race, including those in the seat shell and the battery sheathing.
On June 5, 2023, the Covestro Adelie saw the light of day – in front of more than 700 guests and with great public attention at the Eurogress in Aachen, Germany. The vehicle, which weighs just 150 kilograms, was on display there along with its three predecessor models. Thanks to the optimizations, the structure of the new model weighs 16 percent less than that of its predecessor, the Photon, and the chassis even weighs 20 percent less.
The goal of Team Sonnenwagen after several thousand hours of work and extensive testing in Germany and Australia is to successfully participate in the Bridgestone Solar World Challenge. In the race, more than 40 teams from internationally renowned universities compete against each other with their solar cars. Victory is decided not only by speed - the vehicles of the Sonnenwagen team are capable of speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour - but also by the optimal use of the available solar energy. In any case, the project is a valuable experience for the Aachen team and impressively demonstrates its commitment to the development of future mobility concepts.
I am fascinated by the creativity and commitment with which these young people approach the development of such high-tech vehicles to harness the power of the sun for more sustainable mobility. These are electric cars that do not require charging stations or gas pumps.
Milestone reached: European champion
In recent years, Team Sonnenwagen successfully mastered various solar car races with its vehicles – the Covestro Photon and the Covestro Sonnenwagen. In the summer of 2022, the team became European champion with the Covestro Photon at the iLumen European Solar Challenge (iESC), a 24-hour race on the former Formula 1 track in Zolder, Belgium. Shortly thereafter, Team Sonnenwagen followed up its success by winning the 2022 Italian Solar Challenge in Imola, Italy, with the Covestro Photon three-wheeled catamaran.
Global challenges such as climate change and increasing resource consumption require new concepts for the mobility of the future. Covestro has been developing material solutions for electromobility for some time but is also focusing on the increased use of renewable energies such as solar and wind power. Together with the use of alternative raw materials and the development of innovative recycling concepts, they are part of a comprehensive program with which Covestro is fully aligning itself to the circular economy. To this end, the company cooperates with many partners along the value chain as well as with universities and institutes.
The Covestro Adelie shows on a small scale what high-performance plastics can do for a sustainable future on a large scale. We are convinced that they are the key to sustainable mobility. That's why we are consistently driving forward material innovations and recycling solutions together with our partners in industry and science.
Since Team Sonnenwagen e.V. was founded in 2015, students at RWTH Aachen University and FH Aachen University have been working on the development of solar-powered electric vehicles. With lightweight components, including those made of polycarbonate, Covestro supports the goal of sustainable innovations in the field of electromobility. Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy is what drives the solar car team. For this goal, the students spend much of their free time on the project, working on the development of the solar cars alongside their studies.
From university to industrial practice
For Covestro, the partnership with Team Sonnenwagen goes far beyond material donations and sponsorship. With its commitment to sustainable mobility of the future and building a circular economy, the company wants to attract young and enthusiastic people to work together to achieve these important goals.
We want to attract young people from top universities who share our passion for more sustainable mobility and the use of renewable energy. We want to encourage them to use their talents to develop advanced materials and technologies with us.
