Introducing Sundae

On Saturday July 1 we unveiled our 2017 car, Sundae.

The team surrounds Sundae just after revealing the car

The team surrounds Sundae just after revealing the car

It is the smallest car this team has ever built in accordance with the new rules for the 2017 World Solar Challenge, which only allow for four square meters of silicon solar cells, and has an aggressive aerobody with more optimization than we have applied in the past. Although the solar area decreased and the car shrunk by about 2/3, the majority of mechanical components did not change size — making this year’s race the most challenging to design for mechanically in World Solar Challenge history.

We used 4 sq m of silicon solar cells

We used 4 sq m of silicon solar cells

Sundae is built to enter the Challenger class of the World Solar Challenge, which involves transporting a single person across the Outback as quickly as possible with just 5kWh of batteries. We will normalize the solar array in the mornings and evenings before and after driving, rotating just the topshell of the car towards the sun. In recent cycles, we have normalized the entire car.

Sundae looks tiny next to big brother Arctan!

Sundae looks tiny next to big brother Arctan!

We are very excited about where this car will take us and hope you are, too! Thank you to our major supporters, Ford Motor Company and Stanford University, and to all of the other sponsors, alumni, and advisors who have helped us make Sundae a reality.

Thank you to all of our generous sponsors and supporters for helping us build Sundae!

Thank you to all of our generous sponsors and supporters for helping us build Sundae!

2 Comments
  • Avatar
    Matthew Lambert
    Posted at 08:46h, 13 July Reply

    Great work on the car design! Now for the real work: testing it to get all of the bugs out before the race!

  • Avatar
    John Zbrozek
    Posted at 12:20h, 16 July Reply

    Nice job, Stanford!
    Get lots of miles on it now. Testing and team practice are keys to a good race performance. You know that!
    As usual, I will lose many hours of sleep following your progress Down Under.

    Good luck and with high expectations, JZ

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