The KU Leuven Solar Team, a group of engineering students, unveiled their new solar car, “Infinite Apollo,” at the Antwerp Stock Exchange on Monday.
Belgian Mobility Minister Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés) was in attendance, with the Belgium's leading solar racing team to retain their world title at the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia at the end of August.
Infinite Apollo is the 11th vehicle designed by the KU Leuven Solar Team, which has been active for over two decades.
This year, the biennial world championship will take place in August instead of October, giving students less time to refine their car and forcing them to adapt to Australia’s winter, which offers reduced sunlight for charging.
In response to these challenges, the team has introduced several innovations, including a new aerodynamic wing. They also collaborated with the company LONGi to develop a new solar panel with an efficiency of over 27%, compared to traditional panels’ efficiency of 16 to 20%.
Minister Jean-Luc Crucke stated: "Today, we drive electric cars; tomorrow, it will be solar cars. If we’d been told ten or twenty years ago that so many people would be driving electric cars, we would’ve been thought mad. This is a first step towards future mobility."
The race will start on 24 August in Darwin, covering a 3,021-kilometre route to Adelaide. The vehicle can exceed speeds of 130 km/h.
Although the competition officially concludes on 31 August, the Belgian team expects to reach Adelaide by 28 August. The Louvain-la-Neuve team previously won in 2019 and 2023.
