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Team UFS completes very first Sasol Solar Challenge

21 September 2022 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Johané Odendaal and Edward Lee

UFS Solar car — Team UFS entered the Sasol Solar Challenge for the very first time this year, competing with seven other teams and showcasing their technological input and innovation.

Excitement. Nervousness. A thousand thoughts going through our minds, but primarily “Are we really ready for the challenges that lie ahead?” and “What did we get ourselves into?” In the moments leading up to this year’s Sasol Solar Challenge, these were the thoughts and emotions of Team UFS, who entered their solar car, Lengau.

“But I had confidence in the team,” says Dr Hendrik van Heerden from the UFS Department of Physics at the University of the Free State (UFS) and project manager of Team UFS who entered the challenge for the very first time this year.

Testing perseverance

Entering the Sasol Solar Challenge – a biennial competition that has been running since 2008 – Team UFS competed against seven other teams (representing local and international universities, high schools, and engineering teams), sharing the public roads of South Africa with trucks and regular traffic, sometimes experiencing steep mountain climbs, testing not only their technological input and innovation, but also their perseverance over an eight-day period.

“One of our main challenges was the long time on the road, to which the heavy weight of the solar car, efficiency of the solar panels, and the effective charging of the battery contributed,” says Dr Van Heerden, stating that these problems were difficult to tackle with the small budget they had. “We, however, stayed positive and was determined to pull through.”

“We were also open for learning from the other teams, the scrutineers, and observers regarding the mechanical, electrical, and body of competing solar cars. Thus, building knowledge and collaborating is a success we celebrate,” he adds.

In the end it paid off, as Team UFS completed the race, covering a distance of more than 500 km and ending in seventh place overall. The team that finished with the greatest distance covered within the allotted time won the challenge, in this instance the Brunel Solar Team, covering 4 228,2 km.

Dr Van Heerden believes that they did exceptionally well for a debut team, proving themselves against the best. “I am of the opinion that this challenge made us stronger and gave each of us a new perspective on how we should approach life,” he adds.

“As we are all enthusiastic about science and engineering, this challenge inspired us to build towards a future where renewable energy could be an important source of energy in South Africa.”

For a debut team, we did exceptionally well, proving ourselves against the best. – Dr Hendrik van Heerden.

Learning the ropes

The teams left Carnival City in Johannesburg on 9 September 2022 and arrived at the finish line at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Friday 16 September 2022.

Talking about the next race, Dr Van Heerden says he wants to build a better, more effective solar car. “We strive to continuously improve the design, technology, and science going into our car,” he says.

“For this challenge, we were interested in learning about the mechanical, electrical, and overall body of a solar car. Hence, our solar vehicle was designed well enough to participate and reliable enough to succeed.”

According to him, their focus will shift to competing against the other teams for the next Sasol Solar Challenge. “We will also be more prepared, since we now know what to expect from the challenge. It was our first time participating in the Sasol Solar Challenge, and we’ve learnt so much from the past two weeks – we will carry that forward to the next challenge.

News Archive

New challenges for animal science discussed

2006-04-04

Some of the guests attending the congress were from the left Dr Heinz Meissner (honorary president of the South African Society for Animal Science (SASAS) and senior manager at the Animal Production Institute of the Agricultural Research Council), Mr Paul Bevan (President of SASAS) and Prof Magda Fourie (Vice-Rector: Academic Planning at the UFS).
Photo: Lacea Loader

New challenges for animal science discussed

The South African Society for Animal Science (SASAS) is presenting its 41st Congress at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Main Campus in Bloemfontein.

The congress started yesterday and will run until Thursday 6 April 2006. The theme is New challenges for the animal science industries.

It is one of the largest congresses in the 45 years since SASAS was founded in 1961. Among the delegates 12 African countries are represented, with the biggest delegation from Kenya. Delegates are also from the United States of America, Iran, Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal and African countries like Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana.

“Many of our members play an important role in the training of animal scientists at universities. The congress is specifically industry orientated so that scientists can interact with farmers through the respective producer organisations,” said Prof HO de Waal, Chairperson of the organising committee and lecturer at the UFS Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences.

According to Dr Heinz Meissner, honorary president of SASAS and a senior manager at the Animal Production Institute of the Agricultural Research Council, the National Livestock Strategy (NLS) Plan clarifies the role and responsibility of the livestock sector.

“Through this strategy we need to focus on enhancing equitable access and participation in livestock agriculture, improve global competitiveness and profitability of the livestock sector and ensure that the ventures implemented do not over utilise our resources,” said Dr Meissner.

In her welcoming address, Prof Magda Fourie, Vice-Rector: Academic Planning at the UFS highlighted the related challenges that the UFS will be focusing on specifically over the next five years. “We have identified five strategic clusters that represent broad areas of excellence in research and post-graduate education. Two of these are food production, quality and safety for Africa and sustainable development,” she said.

“The food safety and security cluster will focus on the production of food in all its varieties within the African context, encompassing the entire value chain – from production to consumption and nutrition related issues. This would include a strong emphasis on sustainable production systems,” she said.

According to Prof Fourie the rural development cluster will engage in questions around the role of higher education in sustainable development. “One of the focus areas in this strategic cluster pertains to sustainable livelihoods. It refers to a way of approaching development that incorporates all aspects of human livelihoods and means by which people obtain them,” she said.

Prof Fourie said that the challenges we are facing such as food production can only be effectively addressed through collaborative efforts. “That is why it is important that collaboration takes place between different scientific disciplines, researchers, institutions and countries who are confronted with similar difficulties,” she said.

According to Prof de Waal the congress will give key role players a unique opportunity to present a profile of what they perceive an animal scientist should be and state their specific requirement regarding the animal sciences and its applications.

“In this way we can determine what the industry’s needs are and we can re-align our curriculum to suit these needs,” said Prof de Waal.

During the next two days, various areas of interest will be discussed. This includes ruminant and monogastric nutrition, animal physiology, beef, dairy, sheep and ostrich breeding and sustainable farming covering the range from commercial to the small-scale farming level.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
4 April 2006

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