Solar Team Twente unveiled its brand new solar-powered vehicle today, and government minister Halbe Zijlstra was also there to meet the team members. The car has been named 21Connect and the team will take it all the way to Australia to compete in the World Solar Challenge later this year. Zijlstra was very impressed with both the car and the hard work done by the team, and was positive about the prospects for a victory. "I'll see you again in the autumn with the trophy!" he said.
Solar Team Twente has been rather busy lately. Members of the team have been working around 80 hours per week to design, build and test its new solar-powered car. The finishing touches were made to the car yesterday and first thing this morning it was taken to Amsterdam, where it was unveiled to journalists. The Dutch Secretary of State for Education, Culture and Science, Halbe Zijlstra, was also at the unveiling ceremony. Later in the day, the team showed off its new car to a large audience in Hengelo. It was essential for the car to be as light and as aerodynamic as possible. The team achieved both these design goals with flying colours.
AERODYNAMIC AND LIGHTWEIGHT
The team from Twente pulled out all the stops to design the most aerodynamic car they could. This involved looking at how air could be made to move around the car in the most efficient way. The better the air can be made to move over and under the car, the lower the air resistance. Accordingly, the new car has a smooth, rounded shape, inspired in part by the sails of a windmill. According to team leader Siebe Brinkhof, not a single straight line can be found anywhere on the car.
To improve the car's aerodynamics even further, the car has been given a special nanocoating. This consists of tiny spheres which fill in any tiny irregularities on the surface of the car, even those invisible to the human eye. The team has calculated that the air resistance of their vehicle is at least ten times lower than that of an average family car.
In order to minimize the weight of the car, the outer shell and the chassis were designed as one single piece. This is made of a light but strong composite of carbon fibre mats and epoxy resin. This allowed the team to keep the weight of the car down to only 180kg. That is around 30 percent lighter than Twente's previous solar-powered vehicle.
CABINET APPROVAL
The Dutch Secretary of State for Education, Culture and Science, Halbe Zijlstra, was there to unveil the new vehicle with the Twente team. He enjoyed meeting the students tremendously. "That is one of the nice things about my job." The minister was highly impressed by the design and the hard work of the students and he also praised the partnership between the students of the University of Twente and the Saxion University of Applied Sciences. "This is a great example of a link between applied and fundamental research. We're working on this in cabinet too." Just like the members of the team themselves, the minister was very optimistic about the chances of a victory in Australia. "I'll see you again in the autumn, with the trophy!" he said.
21CONNECT
It was not only the car that was unveiled at the presentation, but also its name: 21Connect. "We are extremely proud of our vehicle," said Brinkhof. "We have all worked really hard on 21Connect. The name represents what we stand for, both inside and outside the Twente region - making connections between educational institutions, businesses and government, so that together we can achieve the very best results."
SMARTPHONE APP
The team also launched a smartphone app today which will allow everyone to follow the team's progress. by means of news reports, blogs, tweets, photos and videos. During the race in Australia, you can use the app to keep up to date with the speeds attained by the car, local weather conditions and the distance covered by the team each day. The application is compatible with Android, iPhone, Nokia and Blackberry handsets and can be downloaded free from www.solarteam.nl/applicatie.
SOLAR TEAM TWENTE
Eighteen students from 13 different study programmes at Saxion and the University of Twente have been working on the new solar-powered car since September 2010. The students have put their studies on hold for 18 months so that they can devote themselves to the project on a full-time basis. One unique feature of the Twente project is that the team functions as a fully independent student business. The team members have not only designed, built and tested the car themselves, but they also handle sponsorship deals and initiate partnerships. Along with the students, at least 150 businesses are partners in the team.
CHALLENGE IN AUSTRALIA
In October, Solar Team Twente will compete in the World Solar Challenge - a kind of Formula 1 for solar-powered cars - for the fourth time. The Challenge is held every two years in Australia, and the next one will start on 16 October of this year. At least 40 teams from over 20 countries will take part in the 3000-kilometre race from Darwin to Adelaide. Solar Team Twente hopes to continue the steady improvement that it made during its last three attempts and, this time, secure a place on the podium. The ultimate goal, of course, is to become world champion.
