Innoptus Solar Team visits EnergyVille with winning solar car
On Sept. 20, 2024, the Innoptus Solar Team won the most extreme solar car race, the SASOL Solar Challenge in South Africa. The solar car covered more than 4,000 kilometers during the race. This achievement could never have been achieved without the help of a variety of experts. This included the experts from EnergyVille in Genk. To thank them, the team stopped at EnergyVille in Genk today with the winning car.
Crucial in the solar car are the batteries and solar panels. And that is precisely the core business of EnergyVille in Genk. “The Innoptus solar team has managed to win several world solar races with their innovative solar car, exploiting not only solar energy, but also wind energy,” said Gerrit Jan Schaeffer, general manager of EnergyVille. “EnergyVille is proud of its contribution to this success, thanks to its expertise in solar energy through imec and batteries through VITO. We are eagerly looking forward to the next generation, which will deliver even higher performance!”
The experts at VITO/EnergyVille are specialists in battery technology. They used their knowledge in characterizing the properties of the battery cells based on tests conducted in the battery test lab, the BTL. During the relaxation tests, they allowed the cells to “rest” after use to see how they respond over time. “In new energy technologies, batteries are crucial,” says Inge Neven, CEO of VITO. “The more performant the battery, the more sustainable. But this victory is more than just an achievement of the solar team, it is the merit of all the experts who worked on it. Additionally, the boys and girls behind this solar car are the best STEM ambassadors we could wish for. VITO is silver sponsor of this team so we are extremely proud of their achievement.”
In turn, imec/EnergyVille used its expertise to check the power output of each solar cell the team had received from the supplier. To do so, it used the solar stimulator that was specifically adapted for this purpose. This was also necessary because correct measurement of these highly efficient back-contact cells required a special measuring head. The power check was performed to ensure that only the best and highest performing cells would be used in the solar panels for the car. As a following step, the Innoptus team used the solar panel laminator at EnergyVille to laminate the best high-efficiency solar cells into solar panels for their solar car.
“The photovoltaic group of Imec/Imomec, part of EnergyVille, is very proud to have supported the Innoptus Solar Team as a bronze sponsor in the solar aspects of their solar car, Infinite, with which they won the 2023 World Championship and the 2024 Sasol Solar Challenge,” said Ivan Gordon, Imomec’s department director.