introduction

The first ever solar car competition to take place in the UAE will proceed through the heart of the capital, before heading out into the emirate’s desert terrain. The event coincides with the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and ends at the opening ceremony of the World Future Energy Summit.

The Abu Dhabi Solar Challenge (ADSC) has attracted some of the top university solar car teams from Australia, Europe, America and Asia, including University of Michigan/Abu Dhabi University and Tokai.

The teams will travel from across the world to compete in the cross-country event similar to the World Solar Challenge in Australia and the American Solar Challenge in the USA. The Petroleum Institute (PI) has also brought together engineering and electrical engineering students to create a team for the ADSC, and will be the first ever from the Emirates to compete in an event of its kind.

Designed and built by university students the competing solar cars are complex machines that bring together the latest technologies from the renewable energy, aerospace and automotive industries. 

The ADSC is sponsored by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), hosted by Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company Masdar, sanctioned by the International Solarcar Federation (ISF) and jointly organised by Innovators Education Foundation and Professional Sports Group.

Scope of Work

Ahead of the event I documented the official reveal of PI Petroleum Institute Solar Car. At the beginning of the event they had scrutineer and testing days at Yas Marina Circuit to make sure all solar vehicles are road safe as well as capable fulfilling the required specifications for the race. Then followed by multiple event race days throughout the various stages and location in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Challenges

• start with time difference
• Solar Cars are damn fast = above 100km/h
• really difficult to catch up with them only possible if they are couple minutes ahead, the later in the race the bigger the time difference between the teams was
• event happened on public road – road safety was crucial for all teams, supports cars, media etc.
• required good, safe and fast driver with sense for great photo opportunities in terms of landmarks etc.
• multiple vehicle + multiple photographers