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25 August 2022 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Francois van Vuuren, iFlair Photography
UFS Sasol Solar car
Team UFS, which has entered its solar-powered vehicle, Lengau (meaning Cheetah in Sesotho), will compete against more than 11 other teams, both local and international. Pictured here is the entire team during one of the road tests at Brandkop in Bloemfontein.

It is almost three years after Team UFS first decided to put a solar-powered vehicle on the road. Within a few days, this dream of participating in the international Sasol Solar Challenge will become a reality when they depart from Carnival City in Johannesburg on 9 September 2022.

For the challenge, the team of ten members will stop at six points between the departure point and the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, where they will arrive on 16 September 2022.

Completing the estimated distance of 2 500 km

“The team that finishes with the greatest distance covered within the allotted time, will win the challenge,” says Dr Hendrik van Heerden from the UFS Department of Physics and project manager of Team UFS. 

The UFS, which has entered its solar-powered vehicle, Lengau (meaning Cheetah in Sesotho), will compete against more than 11 other teams, both local and international.

Dr Van Heerden’s two main objectives in entering the challenge, are to build a solar-powered vehicle robust enough to complete the estimated distance of 2 500 km during the 2022 Sasol Solar Challenge. Furthermore, he aims to establish capacity in the students and staff through acquired practical knowledge on the management, design, construction, and actual racing of solar-powered vehicles, which is to form the basis for participation in future projects and event competitions. 

Bringing together expertise from the UFS Departments of Physics, Engineering Sciences, Computer Sciences and Informatics, Electronics and Instrumentation, and Geography, the team of 23 started with the construction of their vehicle on 18 October 2021. 

Just over 10 months later and the car is fully functional, already passed a few road tests, and the crew is ready for the big challenge ahead.

The three drivers, Albert Dreyer, Monica van der Walt, Denver de Koker, together with back-up driver Lukas Erasmus, will travel on public roads via a predefined route over eight days, driving every day between 07:30 and 17:00. The aluminium-frame vehicle will weigh up to 370 kg, including the frame, the five solar panels, and the driver, and can reach a maximum speed of 60 km per hour (they aim to average 45 km/hour). 

According to the Sasol Solar Challenge rules and regulations, no driver is allowed to drive for longer than two hours. The capacity of the batteries and the availability of sun will determine how often the drivers will need to stop to recharge the solar batteries. 

Popularising electric vehicle technologies

This is the first time that Team UFS will be participating in the Sasol Solar Challenge. A guardedly optimistic Dr Van Heerden says their goal is to complete the full distance without breakages, and to accumulate as much knowledge and information as possible. With the next Sasol Solar Challenge in two years’ time, they plan to enter again. 

“Our long-term aim is to continually improve on the design, technology, science, and project implementation to participate in events and challenges around ‘green’ energy and relevant technologies. An additional aim is the popularisation of electric vehicle (EV) technologies through outreach programmes,” says Dr Van Heerden. 

Prof Koos Terblans, Head of the Department of Physics, says one of the key benefits of this project was that the group, consisting of personnel and students from different departments, learned to work together as one team. “Together, they worked and made plans to collect and apply the maximum amount of energy. Looking at the bigger picture, they are solving a worldwide problem, that of harvesting and applying energy. I am very excited that they have come this far; this is a first for the university.”

News Archive

Intervarsity postponed to 2013
2012-03-08

The annual Intervarsity between the Universities of the Free State and North-West (NWU), which traditionally takes place in the third term, has been postponed to 2013.

The Intervarsity between the UFS and NWU is an illustrious event that has already reached the special milestone of celebrating a 70-year Intervarsity tradition. The UFS/NWU Intervarsity is also known as one of the most reckoned events on the local and national sports and student calendars, and it is widely supported.
 
Representatives from both universities could for a variety of reasons not decide on a date which suited both universities.
 
The respective Intervarsity committees and senior managers of both universities have also taken the interests of the respective university communities and alumni of the institutions into account and have decided to postpone the 70th-year celebration of Intervarsity by a year in order to be able to celebrate the milestone properly.
 
The UFS would have received the NWU in Bloemfontein this year and will therefore host the 70-year celebrations of the event next year as well.
 
Mr Rudi Buys, Dean: Student Affairs at the UFS has expressed his gratitude for the fact that both universities are committed to a special celebration of the Intervarsity tradition in 2013.
 
“The celebration of the 70th Intervarsity between the two institutions will be an important milestone to commemorate decades of friendship, collaboration and healthy competition. Therefore we welcome this opportunity to plan a bigger and better programme for 2013,” he said.
 
The UFS-NWU 70-YEAR Intervarsity firstly aims to establish the programme as a proud example for both universities, where students and staff can pit their strengths against one another in a healthy manner.
 
The aim is to extend Intervarsity to various sections of the respective university communities to enable more students to participate. For instance, more sports codes will be added to the traditional competition on the rugby, soccer, netball and hockey fields, whilst various events focusing on arts and culture, i.e. choral singing and debating competitions, as well as dialogue between student leaders, will take place as part of the programme. All campuses of the two universities will participate in the programmes.
 
Students are even investigating the possibility of electronic competitions such as on-line games as part of the Intervarsity
 
During the Intervarsity last year, several new possibilities were already tested to ensure that the 70th anniversary would be a huge success.
 
The Central Intervarsity Committee of the UFS has decided to replace the Intervarsity 2012 programme with an INTRA-varsity programme between its respective campuses. For this occasion, various sports, arts and culture, and leadership events between the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses are planned, and the Central University of Technology might be invited as well to participate as guests in some programmes.

Media Release
8 March 2012
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za


 

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