About Us

About:

The SIUE Solar Car Team is all about students working together to design, build, and race competitively against other colleges in various cross country races.  Our 2010 and 2011 goal is to design a vehicle, from the ground up, capable of transporting one person across the country at highway speeds, all the while being powered entirely by the sun’s energy.  This ambitious endeavor requires teamwork from students of all types of backgrounds and specialties from SIUE.  The SIUE Solar Car Team has experienced directors managing the organization which is comprised of many students who are excited for the chance to compete and learn.  We have a skilled senior design group building the entire vehicle chassis.  With mostly juniors and seniors in various fields from Business and Marketing to Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, we represent a variety of groups from multiple disciplines at SIUE.

There are two different solar car races held every other year, the North American Solar Car Challenge (NASC) and the World Solar Challenge (WSC), both of which provide a list of specific (and very similar) regulations that must be met for the car to be allowed to race.  The solar car races are cross country style and can stretch thousands of miles, literally across countries.  The track mostly consists of public highways, which means that the solar car must be safe enough for a single driver, capable of stopping quickly, be waterproof, aerodynamic, and dynamically stable when turning and cruising at speeds around 60 mph.  Our team intends to successfully build the most competitive solar car possible with the resources we have available.  The SIUE Solar Car Team is dedicated this goal and to the advancement of research through experimentation with alternative energy sources.

What kind of stuff does the Solar Car Team do?

Current Car: Cougar Cruiser II

Specifications:

• 4 Wheels
• ~850 lbs with 173 lb driver
• Cockpit hatch opens from hinge in front
• Solar panels can be lifted and fixed in place as shown to the right
• 6 residential grade silicon solar panels (6 sq meters)
• One Panel puts out  120 watts max, Entire array outputs 720 watts
• Estimated total cost:  $50k

New Car:  Cougar Cruiser 9000 (Concept Car Shown at Right)

Projected Specifications:

• 3 wheels, front two steer and brake, rear has in-hub motor
• ~600 lbs with 173 lb driver
• Lower center of gravity and wider track width than other car
• Smaller frontal cross-sectional area
• More aerodynamic shape
• Solar Panels are easily removed and can be attached to a stand
• Cockpit hatch slides forward
• 6 sq meters silicon solar cell array
• Estimated total cost:  $60k,   ~9000 man hours

————–(all of the above written by-Michael Graham)

Contact Info:

• Team Director
• Amy Sunderlin
• asunder@siue.edu

• Mechanical Director
• Ted Correll
• tcorrel@siue.edu

• Electrical Director
• Keith Danaher
• kdanahe@siue.edu

• Financial Director
• Chico Weber
• chiwebe@siue.edu

• Logistics Director
• Alex Wolff
• alwolff@siue.edu

Feel free to email us with questions!   (we also like to hear positive feedback!)