Brunel Solar Team: Dutch students taking on the Australian desert in 2025
2025-08-20T04:05:00Z
renewable energy
A team of innovative students from the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands are preparing to race their purpose-built solar car through the centre of Australia. The Brunel Solar Team will compete against 28 similar challenger-class vehicles, developed by teams from across the globe, as part of the 2025 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.
Powered solely by the sun, Teams will traverse a 3,000 kilometre track which spans the full height of the Australian continent, starting in Darwin and finishing in Adelaide. The bi-annual Bridgestone World Solar Challenge runs over seven days and is a test of efficiency and endurance. The race itself is the final proving ground of a year-long competition to design and construct a solar-powered vehicle. Its goal, to stimulate innovation and push the limits of existing knowledge and technology in the field of road-based solar vehicles.
A long road and a lot of sun, perfect for solar racing
The 2025 Brunel Solar Team is made up by 18 ambitious students who have taken time out from their studies in engineering, design, physics and similar fields, to dedicate a year to developing and racing their own solar vehicle.
Leading the team is Elias Wawoe; a physics and astronomy student, with an appetite for adventure and passion for teamwork.
"I was looking for a challenge that would push me further than anything which I'd done before," he said. "When I saw images of the Brunel Solar Team's car driving through the Australian outback, I knew that I had to be a part of this."
After a lengthy cycle of design, testing, preparation and strategy, the team is eager to hit the road.
Our journey over the past year was very much split into two parts – nine months as a design team, followed by four months as a race team. Everybody starts with very well-defined specific roles, but the closer we get to race day, the more we need to adapt and pitch in to achieve our most immediate challenges. As the leader of an 18-person team, that can be a lot to juggle; but everything great, you achieve as a team.
Brunel Solar Team Leader
Elias Wawoe
Traversing the Australian continent from top to bottom
The track used for the majority of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is the Stuart Highway. A 2,720km public road which spans two states and remains accessible to other vehicles throughout competition. In addition to making this one of the world’s longest street races, it also means that teams must conform to the signed speed limit. 130 kilometres per hour in the Northern Territory and 110km/hr in the state of South Australia.
“Our ideal, energy-neutral speed is 90km per hour. At times we’ll need to go faster to avoid cloud and similar weather pockets, but we’ll then need to slow down to allow the battery to charge back up.”
“Based on our testing and Nuna’s performance, all things going well we should cross the finish line in four and half days.”
