Hungarian e-car finishes 3rd at European Solar Challenge
An e-car designed by students of John von Neumann University in Kecskemét, central Hungary, achieved third place in this yearʼs European Solar Challenge in Belgium, Europeʼs largest e-car competition, competing with 18 other university teams.
MegaLux, the car built by students and teachers of the university, traveled 878 kilometers in 24 hours, utilizing only electric drive. The team was assisted by tire maker Bridgestone Hungary, with the company providing the project with ultra-light, low rolling resistance tires, designed specifically for the race.
The car planned by the universityʼs team already achieved great success at the World Solar Challenge in Australia and Sasol Solar Challenge in South Africa, finishing in third place. The young engineers kept on developing the vehicle, providing it with new suspension and undercarriage, to allow high-speed cornering.
Other features remained unchanged, with a six square-meter solar panel collecting energy, stored in a 20 kg lithium-ion battery, which was especially important in this race, as it kept on raining all the way through the event.
"Weʼve been achieving excellent results with MegaLux in international electric car competitions," said Zoltán Kutasi, member of the MegaLux team. "Our most important goal is decreasing the carʼs energy consumption and rolling resistance. Bridgestoneʼs special tires helped us in achieving exactly this. Without them, we could not have achieved the third largest distance in 24 hours."
Rolling resistance can contribute around 20% to the amount of fuel used by a car at 80 km/h. Bridgestone has developed Ecopia Ologic, designed for e-vehicles to tackle the problem.
"Bridgestone dedicates special attention to the development and manufacturing of products helping innovative and sustainable transportation, and hence we were glad to support the Kecskemét team in this renowned European competition," said Katalin Károlyi, head of marketing at Bridgestone Hungary. "We are proud that we could contribute to this fantastic result with our award-winning Ologic tires. Congratulations to the young engineers."
The universityʼs GAMF team is already planning to participate in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge with MegaLux. The challenge is held every two years in Australia, where vehicles have to travel 3,000 km between Darwin and Adelaide using only solar energy.
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