Team profile: UWS Solar Car

Last year, a team of talented students from the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics competed in the World Solar Car Challenge. The work continues this year, with a team of 20 students working on a new car named 'Inertia' to compete in the 2015 World Solar car race. In the event, challengers from universities across the globe race from Darwin to Adelaide – covering a huge 3,000km!

Find out more about the team here in the UWS Solar Car team profile.

Who works in the UWS Solar Car team? 

Anuj Verma – Project Manager
Jay Manley – Project Support Officer
Ali Hellany – Academic Supervisor
Chris Rusnak – Mechanical Lead
Ann Xiao – Marketing Lead
Jean-luc Stevens – Electrical Lead
Inian Anbalagan – Head of Aerodynamics
Rez Pulido – Head of Structural Analysis & Prototyping
Rohan Munjal – Head of Dynamics
Ruuhan Kanpurwala – Dynamics team
Cameron Weston – Dynamics team
Dean Zouganelis – Race Strategy
Ben Grant – Electrical Design team
Daniel Eddington – Electrical team
Mohammad Alhammoudi – Electrical team
Tony Bazouni – Electrical team
Matt Richardson – IT & Telemetry Lead
Benjamin Gibbons – IT & Telemetry team
Alex Trenear – IT & Telemetry team
Kieran Luken – IT & Telemetry team
Allwell Dagogo – IT & Website team
Kirolos Habashy – IT & Website team
Kristy Lawrence – Head of Media
Hubert Fernandez – Sponsorship team
Vanessa Chan – Business team

What does the UWS Solar Car team do? 

We are currently in the process of designing and building a sustainable electrical vehicle to race in the World Solar Car Challenge next year.

We also get involved with and support the local community, teaching future generations about sustainable and alternate resources.

The Solar Car project is also creating a platform for innovation and applied learning and creating relationships with technical staff.

Where is the UWS Solar Car team located?

UWS Kingswood campus, in Building Z, Room G.53.

Who does the UWS Solar Car team work with? 

The clients/businesses we are currently working with are:
-    Sunpower
-    Lenovo
-    LSM Advanced Composites
-    AGM Engineering
-    Varley Group
-    Macarthur Design & Drafting
-    Luddenham Raceway
-    Gochermann Solar Technology

At UWS, we work closely with the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics as well as The Academy.

We also work with other solar car teams – the UNSW Sunswift Team and Queensland-based team, Team Arrow.

In the local community, we work with Penrith High School, Strathfield South High School, Penrith Christian School and Penrith City Council.

What challenges does the team face?

Manufacturing has been a steep learning curve, as no one on the team had any prior experience – this meant that we had to liaise with consultants and do lots of research on this part of the process.

Sourcing sponsorship and funding is hard work and requires making constant enquiries – we are hoping to gain more than $250,000 funding by next year.

We are currently finalising drawings/designs for the car, which has been challenging as some team members are learning on the job.

Testing the car will be challenging, as we will need to manage any issue that could arise when the car is on the road in the race.

This year, we have a new team so we have been learning all about each other's skills and finding out what parts of the project need assistance from mentors.

As we get closer to race day, we will need to look at the logistics in place for the race – and learn from last year's mistakes!

What is the team focusing on in the next six months?

• Building the new car
• Testing the car
• Driver training in the new car
• Maintaining relationships with current sponsors and businesses
• Helping high school students build their very own solar go-karts
• Involving and supporting the local community
• Gaining more sponsors/investors as we are aiming to raise $250,000 by next year
• Building awareness of the UWS Solar Car team within the UWS community and beyond
• Recruiting more members on the business team

To keep up to date with what the team is up to, "like" the team's Facebook page (opens in a new window). You can also find out more about the project on the UWS Solar Car webpage (opens in a new window).

The team is always happy to welcome visitors to their workshop – feel free to drop in at any time in Building Z, Room G.53, Kingswood campus.