Engineering students launch new solar car

What is Durham University Solar Car Team?

The Durham University Solar Car project has been pushing technical boundaries since its inception in 2002.

The society comprises of a team of 50 innovative Durham students who love to push their engineering skills to new levels.

As a student-run and student-led team, they design and build solar cars which they race in international events against other world-leading solar teams.

The society is the longest-running team of its kind in the UK, having developed five generations of solar car and competed in multiple solar car challenges across the world.

The new solar car – DUSC2023

The solar car, called ‘DUSC2023’, is the result of two years of tireless hard work by the team.

The car has been designed and manufactured in preparation for the 2023 Bridgestone World Solar Car Challenge to be held in Australia in October 2023, where teams from other top universities around the world will seek to drive 3,000km (about 1,864 miles) from Darwin to Adelaide using only the power of the sun.

DUSC2023 has been built in partnership with our top-rated Department of Engineering, making use of research and practical experience across the range of Engineering disciplines.

Every aspect of the solar car is built upon thousands of hours of in-depth research, followed by rigorous testing, analysis, and experimentation before finally culminating in a cutting-edge design.

The car uses a 4m² squared solar panels array to power the car through the outback. The solar car also has a 5kWh battery pack which alone gives the car a range of over 300 miles.

This is because of the painstaking design put into making the car as aerodynamic as possible to reduce drag. The solar car has a similar drag to a conventional car's wing mirror.

Find out more

• Learn more about Durham University Solar Car project.
• Interested in studying at Durham? Explore our undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Our Department of Engineering offers a wide range of Engineering pathways, is recognised as ones of the leading centres of research in Engineering in the world and is ranked 5th in The Complete University Guide 2023. Students benefit from excellent employment opportunities as well as interdisciplinary research and national and international cooperation.

Feeling inspired? Visit our Engineering webpages to learn more about our postgraduate and undergraduate programmes.