Emma de Villiers from eTV interviewed us yesterday outside our lab. We chatted about our car and the upcoming challenge. Stephan was interviewed for eNuus on Kyknet, and Haydn was interviewed for eNews Channel Africa. The videos are embedded below:

Warren was interviewed by John Robbie on Talk Radio 702 yesterday morning. In case you missed it, the audio clip can be found here:

Interview on 702 ( mp3, 2.66 MB)

Thomas Falkiner, the Sunday Times motoring writer, wrote an article about the project that appeared in this week’s Sunday Times Life Style section.

An August wind gusts through the trees as I pull into the University of Johannesburg. Most of the students are trudging across campus like zombies; sucking back soft drinks as they walk off the effects of another misspent weekend in Melville.

But there is a small pocket of them, this platoon of sharp-minded individuals, who have been slaving away since dawn. Or so they say. And it is just when I am about to question their life priorities, poke them with the nerd stick, that I see the reason for their dumbfounding diligence.

It’s called the Ilanga and it suddenly makes the prospect of studying science and technology seem awesome. Named after the Zulu word for sun, Ilanga is a solar-powered vehicle that has been conceptualised, designed and built by a team of engineering and industrial design students.

Though most of them are too engrossed in their work to acknowledge my presence, one of the chaps who has been involved in the project since it started in 2011, Warren Hurter, walks over to explain why UJ has taken to chasing the sun.

“It began as an undergraduate project, a chance for us engineering students to show what we could do in a new and exciting way,” says Hurter. The students were instructed to manufacture a solar-powered vehicle that incorporated everything from energy efficiency through to lightweight composites and cutting-edge aerodynamics.

“We had never done something like this before,” says Hurter. “They really threw us into the deep end.” And how. Solar cars aren’t exactly big in South Africa, so everyone concerned had to do a crash course in what it is that makes them tick. They also had to source suppliers, companies that could provide the specialist products they needed to get Ilanga rolling. Solar panels. Lightweight lithium-ion battery packs. All sorts of electrical bits and pieces — my understanding of which is still rather sketchy.

Members of the University of Johannesburg Solar Lab in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, with their Solar Car which they plan to partake in a 5 000km race around South Africa within the next two weeks. LifeStyle. Picture: KEVIN SUTHERLAND 04/09/2012

Read the rest of the article at Times Live

Written by Nichelle Lemmer

Students from the University of Johannesburg participate every two years in the Solar Challenge. The UJ’s solar team designed a solar car to take part in this race. The Solar Challenge seeks to drive science development of alternative energy by racing solar and hybrid vehicles across the country.

Replacing fossil fuels with energy from the sun could be the future of the motor-manufacturing industry. Students at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) not only explores this possibility by designing a workable solar car, but also attempt to show their skills as racers by participating every two years in the South African Solar Challenge race.

The project to design and build their first solar car, called Ilanga I, was launched in 2011 with the goal to participate in the South African Solar Challenge in 2012. The Solar Challenge is an epic, two-week race in solar-powered cars through the length and breadth of South Africa. The Solar Challenge seeks to drive science development of alternative energy by racing solar and hybrid vehicles across the country. It is organised in South Africa by the Advanced Energy Foundation and the Innovation Hub and begins and ends in Pretoria.

Teams entering the race have to build their own cars, design their own engineering systems and race these machines through the most demanding terrain that solar cars have ever seen. The race takes place every two years in the last week of September and the first week of October. The teams who participate include a mixture of local and international teams from across the world that competes in various classes for prizes, prestige and experience. The leading team in the 2010 race was the Japanese team from Tokai University. Each team must put their vehicle through gruelling qualifying and technical inspections. Teams that fail to meet the requirements may not participate. During the race, each team is escorted by their support team and two support vehicles.

The UJ’s solar team now prepares to race again at the end of this year. Nickey Janse van Rensburg, one of the lecturers in mechanical engineering who oversees the project, says this is a unique way of teaching engineering students. “This project gives them hands-on experience that will be valuable in industry. It is also a great platform to teach softskills like effective communication and team work,” she says.

According to her, it is essential to emphasise the importance of sustainable product development and green design to engineering students. “This is a fun way to introduce alternative energy and sustainable engineering design to the students at an early stage in their careers.” She says the development of sustainable products and designs can be used in various industries as all the sectors have to get on board to create a low-carbon economy.

Warren Hurter, a post-graduate student who manages the UJ Solar team says that they are relying on the knowledge and skills gained by designing and building Ilanga I to take on the challenge to build a second generation solar vehicle, Ilanga II. The team aims to complete the new solar-car model before 2014 to again participate in the Solar Challenge. “Our goal is to win the solar challenge in 2014.” He says this goal turns the project into a long-term challenge and gives post-graduate students the opportunity to continue with their master’s degree while working on an exciting project. “This project takes skills development to the next level,” he says.

Engineering students from the industrial design, electronic and mechanical departments participate in the project, creating a platform for all the engineers to work together. Janse van Rensburg says it also promotes the feasibility of a solar car and might even change the public’s perspective on alternative energy vehicles.

Janse van Rensburg says the project also sparks interest in the market as industry already came on board with sponsorships. “Making a success of the project is not solely depended on the students’ skills, but also on time and budget constraints.”

Article courtesy of 25° in Africa.

Direct link to the article: http://www.25degrees.net/index.php/component/option,com_zine/Itemid,146/id,1558/view,article/