Huawei Sonnenwagen – Aachen’s Rookie Run Across Australia

The Huawei Sonnenwagen solar car driving on the Stuart Highway in Australia

Many student teams need several attempts before they reach the finish of the World Solar Challenge. Team Sonnenwagen Aachen, founded in 2015 by students from Aachen, made it on the first try. Their Huawei Sonnenwagen completed the full 3,000 km from Darwin to Adelaide in October 2017 as the best rookie team.

The car was built for the single-seat Challenger class, whose rules allowed a maximum length of 5 m, a width of 2.2 m and only 4 m² of solar cells, less than in earlier years. The Sonnenwagen is a catamaran design: two slim hulls hold the wheels, joined by a gently curved plate that carries the solar array. The driver sits in a small cockpit on the right under a plastic canopy, protected by a roll cage.

Static scrutineering before the 2017 race: every car is checked against the 45-page rulebook. Photo: Sonnenwagen / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The chassis is a self-built steel tube frame with a lightweight fibre-composite body. Empty, the car weighs about 200 kg. The sun’s energy goes straight to the electric motor; a lithium-ion battery of just 20 kg serves as a buffer for clouds and hills.

Catching the last rays: the car recharges before sunset in the outback. Photo: Lennartbj / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Life on the road is part of the challenge: at 5 pm sharp every team stops wherever it is, turns the solar array towards the setting sun and camps in the outback. In 2018 the team took third place at the iLumen European Solar Challenge in Zolder, Belgium. Its later cars, the Covestro Sonnenwagen, the Covestro Photon (European champion 2022) and the Covestro Adelie, built on what this first car taught them.

Setting up the overnight camp in the Australian outback. Photo: Sonnenwagen / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

If you enjoy these student racers, also read about Aurora 101, Nuna 7 and the Tokai Challenger.

Technical data

Builder	Team Sonnenwagen Aachen e.V. (Germany)
Year	2017
Class	Challenger (single seat), four wheels
Body	Catamaran layout, steel tube chassis, fibre-composite body
Solar	4.0 m² (rule maximum)
Battery	Lithium-ion, 20 kg
Weight	~200 kg empty
Results	WSC 2017: best rookie, full distance; iLumen European Solar Challenge 2018: 3rd