JU Solar Team goes for gold with their new solar car
JU Solar Team unveiled their new solar car in front of about 300 people in the School of Engineering's entrance hall on 10 April.
Twice as many solar panels and half as big battery. These are some of the new features of JU Solar Team's new solar car, which was unveiled in front of about 300 people at the School of Engineering (JTH) at Jönköping University (JU) on 10 April.
The team aim for a top position in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia, 24-31 August.
"We have a better solar car than ever before and hope to reach first place of course," says Matilda Svensson Duric, Team Manager.
The new solar car is called "Nova Lumina", which means "new light" in Latin. It is streamlined and has better aerodynamics than before.
"Our solar car has a "droplet design", which means that the solar panels is positioned so that the sun is at the back of the car and we get more solar energy into the car," says Matilda Svensson Duric.
During the unveiling, the students in the JU Solar Team were introduced and there was a technical review of the car. Matilda and the rest of the team extend a special thank you to their sponsors, with whom they had dinner at JTH later that evening.
"They are super important to us. We couldn't have done this without them," she says.
Getting close to reality
Axelent Group is the main sponsor of the JU Solar Team. Susanne Engvall, Marketing Manager at the company, thinks that JU's solar car project is very exciting because the students get close to reality.
"This is something we are really passionate about, to be involved in training engineers in how they work with a project from start to finish. At Axelent we have a lot of knowledge about mechanics, calculations and product development. Therefore it is important for us to support these students, as they may become our future employees, says Susanne Engvall.
She believes that the JU Solar Team, thanks to their great drive and commitment, can go all the way and win the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.
"This is often how it looks in working life"
Saab is one of the gold sponsors of JU Solar Team. Patrik Lägermo, Manager Test System Software at the company, says he is very impressed with JU's solar car project.
"The students get an insight into how projects really work by collaborating with people with many different skills and towards a clear goal. This is often how it looks in working life. These are also students we are interested in meeting and perhaps recruiting in the long term, so it feels valuable to be able to help them with the training that the solar car project means for them," says Patrik Lägermo.
He also believes in great success for JU Solar Team in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.
"Things have gone better and better for them over the years and this year I think they will win of course! It is a strong team that has worked hard to get their solar car ready.
