Solar car struts on stage
AUCKLAND PARK - University of Johannesburg's iLanga isn't just geared 'to win' the local Sasol Solar Challenge, they're aiming for the top internationally.
The lights dim. Smoke billows across the stage. Furtive black-clad figures sneak through the smog mysteriously. And suddenly a car appears.
This is not just any car, as it’s flashy unveiling attests. This is the iLanga II, the University of Johannesburg’s bid for the 2014 South African Sasol Solar Challenge.
iLanga II – the pet project started by the university’s Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment – was unveiled at the university’s Sanlam Auditorium in Auckland Park on 5 August. This high-tech car looks surprisingly small when viewed from the outside, but the engineering, technology and design effort inside it packs a punch.
“This solar car is really a feat of engineering,” Professor Willem Clarke, the CEO of Resolution Circle – the company managing the project in terms of technical and marketing aspects – said at the launch.
“It’s got a sexy outer shell, unbelievably advanced electronics inside, is built out of carbon fibre, will be monitored remotely and has the most advanced solar panels money can buy. We are going to win this race.”
iLanga II wasn’t built for speed, but for endurance. The 2014 Sasol Solar Challenge is not just a race; this endurance challenge focuses on the longest distance covered, time, maximum speed and solar energy generated. The Sasol Solar Car Challenge starts in Pretoria on 27 September, and is essentially a race of approximately 2 000km through the country toward Cape Town. The race spans eight days.
“This car is about playing while educating. Innovation is seldom cheap, but without it we grow backwards,” Clarke said.
Nickey Janse van Rensburg, mechanical engineering science lecturer and academic, said that this challenge is a platform to foster research in alternative energy and fuels, to develop local expertise, and to encourage industry participation and community engagement on environmental issues. “It’s also about exciting young people, and recruiting youngsters into the fields of science, math and engineering,” she said.
The name iLanga is a Zulu word meaning both ‘the heavens’ and ‘strength in numbers’.
The car is a product of collaboration between the university’s engineering, design and logistics students, Resolution Circle and Bing Mechanical Engineering, sponsored by Eskom, Siemens and RS Components.
*Cheer them on and follow their progress at UJ Solar Car on Facebook.
