

Three Cruiser-class winners (Stella Vie, Stella Lux, and the original Stella) from Solar Team Eindhoven (picture credit)

Warning: this list is obsolete. Please check more recent posts.

Here is yet another update on the 52 teams (27 Challengers, 24 Cruisers, and 1 Adventure car) aiming for the 2019 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia this coming October. Many teams are busy with construction, and below is my best understanding of the current team status. Meanwhile, 26 teams (Bridger, Calgary, CalSol , Esteban, Florida, Ga Tech, Illini, Illinois St, Kentucky, Mich St, Missouri S&T, NCSU, NJIT, Northwestern, Principia, PrISUm, Purdue, Rutgers, SIUE, UBC, UPRM, USC, UT, UVA, W Mich, and Waterloo), including 1 WSC team , are preparing to attend FSGP 2019 in America this July.

Several clickable social media links below have been corrected and some clickable YouTube and blog links have been added. I have also included some subjective traffic lights. The big news is that the Belgians are now called Agoria Solar Team (but fortunately their social media links aren’t changing), that Lodz Solar Team has produced a solar baby, and that Twente has revealed their design (a GaAs catamaran reminiscent of Nuna 9).

By special request, all links in this post (including the clickable social media icons) now open in a new tab or page, depending on your browser (I would welcome feedback on whether this is an improvement):

Challenger ( Lumen II ) – they have been doing a lot of testing.

Cruiser ( new team : see my team bio) – they have manufactured several parts of the car interior. This seems to be the body shape.

Australian National University

Challenger ( new car: MTAA Gnowee ) – the car is named after a woman in Aboriginal myth who carries the sun.



public domain photo

Cruiser ( Investigator Mark III ) – they are planning to improve aerodynamics, reduce weight, and make some other changes.

Cruiser ( new team ) – this team may no longer be active.

TAFE SA

Cruiser ( SAV ) – existing car.

Cruiser ( ArrowSTF ) – as well as racing, their commercial arm, Prohelion, is selling power packages.

Cruiser ( Violet ) – they set a record for lowest energy consumption driving trans-Australia (Perth to Sydney).

Challenger ( new car ) – they won the American Solar Challenge last year.

Western Sydney BWSC 2015 aftermovie (they came 10th in the Challenger class)

Challenger ( new car: BluePoint ) – they have some (top secret) production moulds and are now sponsored by Agoria.

Challenger ( Éclipse X.I ) – they came an excellent 3rd in the ASC, 102 minutes behind Western Sydney, and hope to go even faster with the new battery pack in their modified car.

Challenger ( new car: Viridian ) – they plan to unveil the new car in July.

Interview with current team

Challenger ( new car: Intikallpa V ) – no news on the new design as yet.

Antakari BWSC 2013 aftermovie (they participated in the Adventure class)

Cruiser ( new car: Auriga ) – they will be back at the WSC after coming 14th in 2007.



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Cruiser ( new car ) – Bochum also has a solar buggy team.

Challenger ( new car ) – they are getting started with mould manufacturing.

Sonnenwagen Aachen BWSC 2017 aftermovie (they raced in the Challenger class)

Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education

Cruiser ( Sophie 6 plus ) – they have been working on the car body.

Challenger ( new car ) – no details as yet.



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Cruiser ( SM-S2 ) – existing car.

Cruiser ( new car: Archimede 2.0 ) – they have an exciting design concept.

Cruiser ( Emilia 4 ) – they won the American Solar Challenge (Cruiser class) last year, and they have written up their design process here.

Challenger ( new car ) – they have officially announced their participation.

Kogakuin BWSC 2017 aftermovie (they came 7th in the Challenger class)

Challenger ( new car ) – no news on the new design as yet.



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Challenger ( new car ) – in January they hosted some visitors from Lodz.

Kookmin University Solar Team

Challenger ( new car ) – no news on the new design as yet.

KUST BWSC 2017 aftermovie (they raced in the Challenger class)

Challenger ( new car: Tigris ) – no news on the new design as yet, but they already have a very professional media presence. Their fund-raising efforts include some great T-shirts.

Challenger ( new car: Eleadora 2 ) – their new catamaran will look like this.

Cruiser ( new car: Stella ? ) – they have a good team working on the car and, like many other teams, they plan using Post-it notes. They are turning a shipping container into an oven.

Challenger ( new car: Red E ) – they are already producing regular vlogs, and have a vlog for February (Dutch only). They have revealed their design (a GaAs catamaran reminiscent of Nuna 9, at least at the front).

Challenger ( new team : see my team bio) – they have given their drivers a thorough physical, and made good progress on fabrication.

Challenger ( new car: Nuna X ) – these are the champions formerly known as Nuon. See their name change announcement video.

Cruiser ( Eagle Two ) – they have produced a solar baby, which is a prize that lasts.

PUT Solar Dynamics

Cruiser ( new team ) – they are based in the home town of the famous Australian explorer Paweł Strzelecki.

Polytech Solar

Cruiser ( new car ) – no news on the new design as yet.



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Singapore Polytechnic

Cruiser ( SunSPEC 5 ) – they have new motors and new doors.

Challenger ( new team : see my team bio) – their final render resembles the car of the South African NWU team. They have a chassis.

Challenger ( new team : see my team bio) – they are planning a bullet car, much like Michigan’s 2017 entry.

Challenger ( new car ) – they have a rolling test chassis, but the body design seems long and thin.

Challenger ( new car ) – some degree of autonomous driving is planned.



public domain photo

Solar Energy Racers

Challenger ( SER-3 ) – they raced this car in South Africa.

Cruiser ( new car: Apollo IX ) – they have been making some carbon-fibre seats.

Cruiser ( new car: STC-3 ) – no news on the new design as yet.

Siam Technical College BWSC 2017 aftermovie (they raced in the Cruiser class)

Challenger ( new car ) – they expect the new car to be 44% more efficient than the 2015 model.



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Cruiser – this high-school team came 6th in the iESC Cruiser class.

Cruiser ( new car: Helia ) – they are busy with fabrication.

Challenger ( new car: Ortus ) – they have begun fabrication.

Cruiser ( new team : see my team bio) – they competed in the American Solar Challenge last year, with their car ROSE.

Cruiser ( new car: Tachyon ) – they have a bottom shell and roll cage. They will also attend FSGP 2019.

Houston School District

Adventure ( Sundancer ) – this high school team from from Houston, Mississippi is a regular visitor, because they keep winning the US high school race.

Challenger ( new car ) – they have donated their 2015 car to the new Rutgers team, and have posted a lengthy status report on their blog.

Challenger ( new car ) – they are asking for name suggestions for the new car.

Michigan BWSC 2017 aftermovie (they came 2nd in the Challenger class)

Cruiser ( new car: Freya ) – no news on the new design as yet.

UMNSVP BWSC 2015 aftermovie (they came 5th in the Cruiser class)

This page last updated 21:31 on 21 March 2019 AEDT