Students steer solar-powered racing cars to glory in American Solar Challenge

<p>Student teams representing Appalachian State University and KU Leuven took first place in this year’s American Solar Challenge (ASC) which concluded on August 5 with a cross-country race to the finish line in Amarillo, Texas.</p>

<p>The ASC happens every year and spotlights the engineering and project design and development skills of a range of different student teams from all over the world.</p>

<p>The students taking part spend around two years building their solar-powered cars before eventually racing them along a 1,500-to-2,000-mile cross-country route.</p>

<p>Belgium’s KU Leuven team won in the Single-Occupant Vehicle (SOV) category, while Appalachian State University claimed the Multi-Occupant Vehicle (MOV) title. A total seven teams competed the entire 1,547-mile base route this year.</p>

<p>The organizers reported a very close finish in the SOV category where KU Leuven came out on top over TU Delft with 2,671.2 official miles and an official time of 62:07:02, averaging 43.4 mph. École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) of Montréal came in third place.</p>

<p>In the MOV category, North American teams ruled the competition, with Appalachian State scoring 92.7 (1,829.6 miles logged) followed by Polytechnique Montréal with 88.8 (1,983.6 miles logged) and Georgia Tech with 87.2 (1,622.4 miles logged).</p>

<p>The teams raced parts of the famous Route 66 through Oklahoma and Texas. They had to qualify for the final race at a closed-track qualifying event dubbed the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix.</p>

<p>During the final cross-country race they tested the limits of their solar cars, working against their competitors and battery and weather constraints to complete the course.</p>

<p>The ASC is organized each year by non-profit the Innovators Educational Foundation (IEF) which is run by solar vehicle enthusiasts and volunteers as a support network for early-career engineers in the clean energy and aerospace industries.</p>

<p>“Battling hills, clouds, and extreme heat across eight states in eight days, teams went from 39 arrivals to 18 at the Minneapolis start to 14 solar cars crossing the Amarillo finish – a record-setting year,” said Gail Lueck, event director and operations director at the IEF.</p>

<p>Besides Electrek, other sponsors of the ASC include Blue Origin, Tesla, SpaceX, SunCat Solar, and SolCast. Siemens also joined as a presenting partner, presenting $10,000 to the top performing team in an onsite engineering challenge at the track.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/08/07/students-steer-solar-powered-racing-cars-to-glory-in-american-solar-challenge/">Students steer solar-powered racing cars to glory in American Solar Challenge</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com">pv magazine Global</a>.</p>