Business & Economy

Belgian students design solar-powered car to race across Moroccan desert

By Clara López

Leuven, Belgium, Aug 2 (EFE).- Some 20 engineering students make up Agoria Solar Team, which creates new iterations of a solar-powered car every two years, seeking more innovation and efficiency, as they tailor their newest model for a race across the Moroccan desert.

The ninth vehicle to come out of their workshop, ready to compete in the Solar Challenge Morocco later this year, was named Bluepoint Atlas and presented by the team of KU Leuven University students at the Africa Museum outside Brussels.

Built in a year, it is fueled entirely by solar power and can reach a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour.

The car stores some power in a battery to allow it to function on cloudy days, making it fit both the sizzling roads of the sun-scorched Sahara and rain-soaked Belgian streets.

Several innovations and technical advancements make the solar-powered car a good taste of what renewable energy and cutting edge technology can do.

Agoria’s new three-wheeled car adopts a “very pointy” aerodynamic shape to achieve the best performance yet by the Belgian workshop, according to Remi De Coster, spokesperson for the team.

With their previous creations, Agoria have won the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia in 2019 and the iLumen European Solar Challenge in Belgium in 2020.

In Morocco, they will face off against other international teams of students with their solar cars, in five stages for a total of 2,500 kilometers aiming to promote sustainability and renewable energy.

Agoria’s pilot will be Gilles De Baets, who is preparing physically and mentally to take on the desert heat aboard the small solar-powered car, with cardio exercises and reaction time training.

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