The TU Delft solar team has won the 14th World Solar Challenge in Australia by force majeure. After five days of racing came solar car nuna9 crossed the finish line in Adelaide on 12 October 2017 at a quarter to seven Dutch time. It took the team four days and more than six hours to complete the 3,000 kilometer race. 

MPPT units

MGEelectronics from Leeuwarden, one of the technostarters of our business cluster, once again made an important contribution to this Delft victory. Thanks to their 8 built-in MPPT units (Maximum Power Point Trackers), the solar cells extract the maximum possible energy from the sun. Something that is of course crucial in such a race. The winning 'family car' of the TU Eindhoven is also equipped with material from MGEelectronics. Until now, MGElectronics has contributed technologically to every Dutch victory in the World Solar Challenge in recent years.

Challenge

It is the ninth time that the team has entered the race. It has won six times before, twice the team took second place. The organization of the World Solar Challenge tightens up the rules of the race every edition. As a result, the participants are challenged to the maximum, but the average speed is also reduced. For example, Nuna9 in Australia achieved an average speed of about 81 to 82 km per hour. Never before has the Nuon Solar Team taken so long to complete the solar race. Two years ago, the team from Delft defeated competitor Twente by 8 minutes: a minimal difference in a race of 3,000 kilometers. At that time the average speed was still 91.75 km per hour.

read here more about the victory of the TU Delft.