WORLD SOLAR CHALLENGE

The World Solar Challenge (WSC), known as the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge from 2013 onwards, is an international event where solar-powered cars travel 3000 kilometers across Australia's outback.

 

The World Solar Challenge is held every two years, with the exception of a four-year break between the 2019 and 2023 events due to the postponement of the 2021 event. It is a global competition where teams compete to travel 3022 kilometers from Darwin to Adelaide using solar-powered cars. Since the cars must withstand the harsh Australian outback, this event puts car engineering to the ultimate test. The challenge aims to encourage the development of solar-powered vehicles. At its essence, it is a design competition, and every team/car that crosses the finish line is considered a winner. Mainly, Teams from universities and enterprises compete in the world solar challenge. It has a 32-year history with fifteen tournaments, the first of which was held in 1987. Originally held every three years, the event became a biennial at the turn of the century.

 

Since 2001, the Nuna team and cars from Delft University of Technology have won the World Championship seven times out of ten occasions. The Tokai Challenger, designed by Japan's Tokai University, won in 2009 and 2011. The Belgian Agoria Solar Team from KU Leuven University won the most recent edition of the World Solar Challenge(2019).

 

The World Solar Challenge has had numerous classes since 2007. After the German team from Bochum University of Applied Sciences competed in 2009 with the BoCruiser, a four-wheeled, multi-seat car, a totally new "Cruiser Class" was launched in 2013, encouraging the technological development of practical and ideally road-legal, multi-seater solar cars. Solar Team Eindhoven's four- and five-seat Stella solar cars from Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) have won the Cruiser Class in each of the four competitions since their start.

 

On behalf of the South Australian Government, the South Australian Tourism Commission owns and manages the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. Its 16th edition will be held from October 20 to 27, 2023.

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The 2023 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge regulations will be issued in April, with registration opening in June.