UTCN's solar vehicle passes qualifying and covers its first 300 km

Ziua de Cluj reports that UTCN's solar vehicle, driven by students and powered only by the sun, has reached the World Solar Challenge in Australia, passed qualifying and covered its first 300 km on the road. Ahead lay a north-to-south crossing of 3,200 km on highways and through the desert. The paper calls it a 150,000-euro prototype.

“The students worked on everything to do with design and construction. The chassis and the battery were built by our students”

Călin Neamțu, project coordinator

Călin Neamțu, who coordinates the project with Ștefan Breban, its initiator, explains the aim: an energy-independent vehicle that captures solar energy and uses it in an endurance race. He recalls the team's earlier races, a 24-hour endurance race in Belgium and a race on the Imola Formula 1 circuit in Italy.

Neamțu says students from two UTCN faculties, electrical engineering and robotics, did all the design and construction over a year, including the chassis and the battery. Student Sebastian Șuteu puts the total investment at 150,000 euros. The wheels with their motor cost 35,000 euros and the carbon fibre about 30,000 euros, he says.