Solar Powered Car
Near East University Solar Powered Car Racing Team

Near East University Solar Powered Car Racing Team was established in 2013 in order to produce cars to take part in the world-wide challenging solar-powered car races known as Solar Challenge.

The first verhicle of the team was RA25, which was produced in 2014. RA25 inspired half of its name, RA, from the Sun God of Egyptian Mythology and 25 was taken from the 25th anniversary of the Near East University.

The RA25 has a 3-wheel design in order to compete in the class known as the Adventure Class. The RA25 is equipped with 392 solar panels having 22.1% efficiency and two electronic brains that control the energy from the panels. There is a battery block consisting of 390 rechargeable batteries and electronic circuits that make temperature, voltage and current control of each battery. A direct current driven motor is located in the single wheel in the rear and has a total output of 1800 Watts.

RA25 was the first domestic car produced in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to pass all the technical controls and was registered.

The race, known as Sasol Solar Challenge South Africa, starts from the Pretoria City and continues on the roads of South Africa, where traffic flows routinly and lasts for 8 days. The race is organized in cooperation by FIA (World Motorsports Federation), the ISF (International Solar Racing Federation) and the MSA (Federation of Motorsports of the Republic of South Africa).

Fulfilling all the requirements and criteria of FIA, RA25 competed in the race organized in 2014 and reached the world championship in its own category, the Adventure Class, by traveling 628km with only the energy produced from the solar energy.

The second vehicle of the team, RA27 has a 4-wheel design and is made entirely of carbon fiber. There are two direct current motors with 1800Watt power inside the two wheels in the rear. The RA27 has 391 solar panels operating at 24.1% efficiency and has a battery block consisting of 412 lithium batteries. The electronic infrastructure is similar to RA25 and is designed with much higher efficiency electronic circuits.

In the race held in South Africa in 2016, RA27 fulfilled all the criteria and requirements to compete in the race, travelled 1630 km on the roads of the Republic of South Africa and ranked the sixth of the world on the list of Challanger Class within which four-wheel solar powered cars raced.

The members of the Near East University Solar Powered Car Racing Team are engineers from almost all engineering branches. More than 100 sensors mounted on the car send information 60 times per second to the devices that track the solar vehicle so that the current status of the car can be seen at any moment as well as helping to determine the race strategy. The carbon fiber body of the cars, undercarriage, necessary electronic circuits and the telemetry software used for communication have all been made by Near East University Solar Car Racing Team.

For more information about the Near East University Solar Car Racing Team, please follow the team’s website and social media accounts.