UBC Solar

TitleUBC Solar
Faculty/College/UnitApplied Science
StatusCompleted
Duration1 Year
Initiation04/01/2010
Completion03/31/2011
Project Summary

UBC Solar is a new interfaculty student team with over 30 active members, with the purpose of providing students an opportunity to learn about solar energy through solar vehicle racing. Other Canadian institutions have similar projects and given UBC’s policy on sustainable development, it should be viewed as a good fit with institutional goals. Solar racing vehicle teams require large amounts of capital, with projects ranging from $100,000 to several million dollars due to the high cost of space-grade solar cells and high capacity batteries. As a new team, our limited financial resources are the biggest challenge to allow us to be competitive with other more established teams. The team plans on competing in international solar vehicle competitions such as the North American Solar Challenge (NASC) and the World Solar Challenge in Australia. The next race is the NASC 2010 challenge next June, a 2000km race through the United States.

Funding Details
Year 1: Project YearYear 1
Year 1: Funding Year2010/2011
Year 1: Project TypeSmall TLEF
Year 1: Principal InvestigatorWilliam Dunford
Year 1: Funded Amount50,000
Year 1: Team Members

William Dunford, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
Joel Mertens, Council Chair, Engineering Student Team
Steve Vaatstra, Manager, UBC Solar Business
Erin Biddlecombe, Student Development Officer, Engineering