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The CPUT Solar Flyer will get its wings tomorrow when it will be officially launched at the Auditorium on the Bellville Campus at 10am.
Our students take part in the Sasol Solar Challenge 2018 for the first time this year and our entry is called the CPUT Solar Flyer because the original design resembles a plane.
Competition from all over
Held every second year, the Sasol Solar Challenge sees teams from across the world design and build solar-powered vehicles to drive across South Africa in an eight-day event.
READ: Good luck to local solar car teams! Students prep for 2018 SA Solar Challenge
CPUT is the only university in the Western Cape participating, with teams from as far as Turkey and Poland also competing. This being the first time we enter, everything about building the solar car over the past almost three months, has been a steep learning curve.
Image: CPUT
This applies not only to the technicians in the AMTL workshop who are teaching the students about assembling the car but also to our engineering lecturers who want to incorporate parts of the solar car building project into coursework.
Speaking to the students at a team meeting, Prof Graeme Oliver prepped them to expect a lot of activity at the start and finish lines and to remain focused.
Image: Technical Manager Mornay Riddles teaching a student how they want to create the wheel mounts for the CPUT Solar Flyer
“The competition is here to encourage younger people to take up engineering as a career. You know why you are doing this, but they don’t,” said Oliver, as he suggested the CPUT students be ready for lots of questions.
After the competition, the car will be used as a talking point to create awareness around studying engineering at CPUT.
