20, the U-M team typically finishes in four or five days. The race ends in Adelaide, South Australia. With the electrical system overhaul and tuned-up aerodynamics, the team members believe they’ll be able to go faster than ever at the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, beating their 2017 second-place finish-a best-ever result for U-M. “It was fun to work with such an energetic and committed team of students.” “The team has done a good job of characterizing the cells and usage pattern over the race to design a pack with minimum weight that will safely operate over the race parameters,” Siegel said. The students had found their most innovative addition to Electrum. To Kohler’s surprise, the numbers were legit. With Siegel’s mentorship, the team put the new batteries through the paces. They ordered some samples for testing and turned to Jason Siegel, an assistant research scientist in mechanical engineering at U-M who specializes in lithium batteries. When I told the team originally, they couldn’t believe it,” Kohler said. “When I ran the numbers during research, the new batteries came up with double-digit efficiency improvements over what we had been using. At the time, he was blown away by their specs. The new batteries were first scoped out by Daniel Kohler, a computer science senior and the team’s high voltage lead, when he joined in winter 2018. The team expects its competition to still be using lithium ion. This is crucial because race rules dictate the total weight of batteries on board. They’re seeing double-digit boosts to power efficiency, while cutting down weight per cell. In a complete electrical system overhaul, the team ditched traditional lithium ion batteries and switched to lithium polymer cells. This year’s vehicle, Electrum, might look like the one that raced at the last world challenge, but under the hood are significant changes. And we’re about to race it through the Australian Outback, so it really doesn’t get much better than that.” “This close to the race there really isn’t an emotion you don’t feel,” said Juliette Shaheen, a computer science undergrad and the team’s weather strategist. The team will drive against more than 40 cars from around the world as they travel to Adelaide, South Australia. 13, in Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory. The multiday, 1,800-mile competition starts at 8:30 a.m. The team is counting on its new battery system and solar cells to propel it to a first-place finish. Image credit: Joseph Xu/Michigan EngineeringĪNN ARBOR-In a slender, bullet-shaped car, the University of Michigan Solar Car team will soon race down the Australian outback in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.

Electrum, the University of Michigan Solar Car Team’s car that will be competing in the upcoming 2019 World Solar Challenge this fall.

Electrum solar