KU Leuven: KU Leuven team breaks world record with solar car

The Agoria Solar Team has managed to set the record for ‘most number of kilometers driven with a solar car in 12 hours’. With their latest solar car, the BluePoint Atlas, the KU Leuven student team covered 1051 kilometers in 12 hours. With this they broke the previous record of 924 kilometers in 12 hours that had been held by the Dutch Solar Team from Delft since 2020.

The team started their record attempt on June 12 at 7:31 am on a closed test track of Ford Lommel. After 12 hours of driving, they had covered 1051 kilometers with the solar car, purely on solar energy. It is the first time that the Belgian Solar Team has made this record attempt. They improved the previous record, which was held by the Dutch Solar Team from Delft, by 127 kilometers.

“We drove 1051 kilometers today. That is 127 kilometers more than the previous record that was set in 2020. We are of course very proud of that.” – Tine Wildiers (21, Rotselaar), Strategist Solar Team

The students have worked hard over the past year to improve their solar car. They added innovations and continued to focus on the reliability of the car. Those efforts have paid off: apart from a flat tire, the car has not experienced any technical problems.

“The solar car did a great job today. We tested everything extensively beforehand and we are sure that the car will be reliable for the next race: the Sasol Solar Challenge in South Africa.” – Zander Radelet (23, Aarschot), Aerodynamic Engineer Solar Team

The solar car is now fully ready for a new international challenge: the Sasol Solar Challenge in South Africa, which will take place from 9 to 16 September. It is the first time for the Belgian Solar Team to participate in this race. Student teams from all over the world will be challenged here to cover as much distance as possible on solar energy in 8 days. It is the longest competition in which the Belgian team will participate to date. Both reliability and strategy will play an important role.