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Racing the Sun

An Appalachian team seeks to change the future of transportation with a solar race car

Posted Aug. 17, 2016 at 9:28 a.m.

What do you get when you take a dozen Appalachian State University students, three passionate faculty, and an institutional commitment to sustainability? As it turns out, you get a race car powered by the sun that wins third place in a three-day track race and places sixth in a cross-country race lasting eight days and nearly 2,000 miles. You get innovations in sustainable technology. You get a roadmap to the car of the future.

In a recent survey, 55 percent of Appalachian students indicated that the university’s commitment to sustainability influenced their decision to attend. And while each person’s definition of sustainability is a bit different – personal choices are often at the center of how people choose to define the concept – it is clear that the students on this team are committed to improving the quality of life for the next generation, and that means developing technology that will lessen the negative impact of humans on the environment.

See how App State makes tracks at Formula Sun Grand Prix

Meet the hearts and minds that lead Team Sunergy and learn how Appalachian State University’s solar team found a place on the podium at the Formula Sun Grand Prix.

Why did we go? To build a better transportation solution. How did we place third? Sheer Mountaineer grit. Join the team, experience scrutineering, on-track qualifying and pit-stop drama. Watch the video here and think solar.

Transcript

Duvey Rudow, Assistant Project Directory/Driver: We are here, currently, at the Formula Sun Grand Prix. This is a three-day track race at Pitt International Race Complex. It's about an hour outside of Pittsburgh. There are 20 teams this year. Twenty solar vehicle teams from around the world. All collegiate teams.

Dan Blakeley, Team Leader/Driver: The Formula Sun Grand Prix serves as a qualifier. It's a three-day track event where you're just trying to complete as many laps as possible. In order to qualify, the race organizers wanted to make sure that your car is safe and can maintain a really good level of performance throughout the day. It serves as a qualifier for the Amercian Solar Challenge, and that's the bigger event that everybody is really competing for. That one is 1,975 miles and this year it is going from Akron, Ohio to the Black Hills of South Dakota.

DB: I started this project in the fall of 2013 just to get the university involved in a project that I saw married two different technologies, two different sports, together that I thought was important for North Carolinians. That was racing and sustainable technology. I can't see a better area to really invest a lot of time and a lot of effort to develop the future of transportation than solar car racing. These vehicles are the future of transportation.

Abby Hastings, Co-mechanical Director: What sets Appalachian apart from every other college here is that we are a liberal arts college. We're all coming from different majors, from the team. A lot of these colleges, it's their engineering department that's here.

Dr. Jeremy Ferrell, Faculty Advisor: We have, primarily, sustainable technology, appropriate technology, physics, engineering physics. Then we have communications and business and music industries and interior design. It's just a whole host of different majors from which people have come together for this, and they all have their contributions to make to the team.

DR: I think the way we approach the problems are fundamentally different. Engineering schools look at it and say, "How do we build a solar car?" because it's an engineering challenge for them. For us, we say, "How do we make a more efficient form of transportation?" For us, we look at it from a sustainability angle rather than as an engineering challenge.

AH: Where as we come in from a lot of different backgrounds, some of us even have some racing background. I think that's another part of us coming from North Carolina. We actually have that going for us. We are from the home of racing, so it's really great to do that proud and do Appalachian proud by promoting sustainability with this.

Andrew Grimes, Interim Business Directory: Us being here proves that you don't need to be an engineering school to attract the right minds to build a team that can do incredible things. We're focused on the ability of solar transportation to change the future and to really make a difference in reducing our carbon emissions in the future.

JF: Our students get that and they see that solar powered cars are going to be the future. That's how we're going to get ourselves from point A to point B. They have a connection that we're going to be doing solar car racing because we see the importance of making our transportation sector cleaner and using clean energy to power it.

AH: You've got to do it. There's no way to get around being sustainable anymore. It has to happen. I love being at a school where that's important and where it can happen.

AG: It's hard for me, at this point in my life, to look around and not see the waste that we're producing and to not be aware of it. To me, sustainability means not only finding a way to reduce that, but also to make our world a better place for the next generation. Hopefully they'll be driving solar cars, and they don't think about the emissions that're coming out of their car every time they're driving.

DR: The reason that what we're doing is important, is because 30% of all carbon emissions come from the transportation sector. As you push towards that, solar vehicles become more and more of an efficient option. I'm very confident in our team's chances. I don't know for certain, but I think and I hope that we're going to do well. We've got a reliable car. We've got a great team. We've got great drivers. I think that, as long as we can stay on the track, I think we've a good chance to do well in both the American Solar Challenge and the Formula Sun Gran Prix.

{After two days of racing, Appalachian's Team Sunergy found itself in a heated battle for 3rd place.}

{An emergency pit stop due to a flat tire toward the end of Day 2 cost Team Sunergy precious time and laps, suddenly knocking Appalachian out of third place and off the podium.}

{Beginning Day 3 in fourth place, up against rain and overcast skies, Team Sunergy adopted a strategy favoring consistency over speed to conserve energy and garner as many laps as possible.}

DB: So we were a little concerned that we weren't going to get up to third, but ultimately, being consistent, it brought us back up to third place so not only do we get to enjoy the podium at the awards banquet tomorrow and bring back our success to Appalachian State, but we also get to go into American Solar Challenge with our heads held high.

DB: Give me a minute.

DB: To come to en event like this after two years of countless hours of work and dedication, it's just insane to be at this place in time. You just can't describe it.

Team: One. Two Three. App State.

{After a week of competing in their first American Solar Challenge, Appalachian's Team Sunergy finished in 6th place.}

{A group of students that began with a vision for the future became a team, and created a car that traveled nearly 2,000 miles powered by nothing but the sun.}

Students from a variety of majors – some you might expect, like sustainable technology and engineering physics, and some you might not, like interior design and music industry studies – came together to form Team Sunergy and change the future of transportation.

Advising them were three faculty mentors: Dr. Jeremy Ferrell, assistant professor of sustainable technology in the Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment, and Chris Tolbert and Brad Johnson, both adjunct instructors, who coached the team on solar car development and electronics and automation, respectively.

Supporting them were countless faculty and staff, but chief among those was Dr. Lee Ball, interim director of the Office of Sustainability.

Success, Appalachian-style

Appalachian’s solar vehicle team is the only North Carolina team in the competition and the only team in the South to qualify for the American Solar Challenge. 2016 was the first time a North Carolina solar team competed in this race. In its first competition, Team Sunergy’s accolades included:

  • Third in Formula Sun Grand Prix
  • Sixth in American Solar Challenge
  • Winner, Abraham Poot Teamwork Award
  • Winner, Fastest Egress award (driver Lindsay Rudisill)
News coverage
  • Appalachian State University Team Races Solar Car Across The Country - WFDD
  • ASU’s Team Sunergy and ‘Apperion’ Take on the Formula Sun Grand Prix This Week - High Country Press
  • American Solar Challenge underway - WKYC
  • ASU Solar Vehicle Team finishes sixth in Solar Challenge - Watauga Democrat

The idea behind Apperion

The brainchild of a student with a fascination with sustainable technology and a love for race cars, Apperion, the solar vehicle, took shape after a conversation Dan Blakeley, then an undergraduate student, started with Ferrell. Inspired by his experience converting a gas-powered golf cart into an electric vehicle in Chris Tolbert’s Sustainable Transportation course, Blakeley was keen to build a solar race car. He sought out Ferrell because of his research in biofuels and alternative transportation. True to the entrepreneurial spirit of Appalachian faculty, Ferrell told Blakeley he’d like to “jump in” on the project, and a vision for a solar car started to become a reality. Within a year, they had developed a race car prototype. Two years later, Blakeley, now a graduate student pursuing dual degrees in appropriate technology and engineering physics, led the first-ever North Carolina team into the American Solar Challenge (ASC), an international competition in which collegiate teams design, build and race solar vehicles.

After successfully qualifying for the ASC, Appalachian’s Team Sunergy secured a third place win in the track race phase of the ASC qualifier, the Formula Sun Grand Prix. They went on to place sixth in the ASC’s 1,975-mile, cross-country race that covered seven states and lasted eight days. One of 20 teams to qualify for entry into the competition, Team Sunergy became one of only 12 to complete the ASC and one of only three to drive across the finish line on its own power on the final day.

When asked why their accomplishments are significant, the team members echoed a common refrain: “We’re not an engineering school.” Presented neither as badge of honor nor a weakness, this response by every team member is a fact: of the 20 teams that entered the competition, only two are liberal arts institutions. Perhaps, Appalachian team members suggested, this gave them a competitive advantage because they approached building a solar car not from an engineering standpoint but as a sustainability solution.

A sustainability challenge, not an engineering project

“Our team not only sees this as a project and a challenge – they see this as part of the larger picture that has to do with integrating sustainability into building a solar race car.”

Dr. Jeremy Ferrell, faculty advisor

“Our team not only sees this as a project and a challenge – they see this as part of the larger picture that has to do with integrating sustainability into building a solar race car,” said Ferrell. “This is what really distinguishes our students: they see the importance of making our transportation sector cleaner, and of using clean energy to power it.”

“For us, this is a sustainability challenge,” stated Duvey Rudow, the team’s assistant director and a senior physics major. “For engineering schools, they say, ‘How do we build a solar car?’ because it’s an engineering problem for them. For us, we say, ‘OK, how do we make a more efficient form of transportation?’”

Sustainability education is a relatively new field,” said Ball, “and Appalachian has been a part of it since before the S- word emerged in the lexicon. We have a deep understanding – and the ability to articulate – all the different ways people can connect to sustainability. Every discipline connects to it, and we get that at Appalachian.”

In interviews with team members and faculty, this narrative emerged: While Team Sunergy sweated the details from maximizing battery power to soldering wires to finding sponsors and acquiring insurance, right down to choosing the car number – 828 to represent the Boone area code – they learned the fundamentals of teamwork. They faced failures and false starts, overcame seemingly tremendous funding obstacles, shared late-night meals, bickered, laughed and cried together, and in the process became a team that trusted one another, learned to disagree with respect, and when to lead and when to follow.

These skills will serve them well in the future, Ball said. “When they go into the professional world, they will remember that it takes an interdisciplinary team and holistic approach to find a solution to a problem.”

Ferrell agrees. “Our students are learning how to put a project together, execute dozens of different tasks, be highly organized, manage money, clearly articulate what they are doing and develop leadership,” he said. “This kind of leadership will make them stand out when they go on to work at Tesla motors or SpaceX or become founders of their own entrepreneurial endeavor with clean energy or clean transportation, or whatever connection they find with sustainability.”

Apperion facts
  • Size: 4.97m long x 1.72m wide x 1.21m high
  • Weight: 190kg
  • Array: 1200W SunPower Monocrystalline
  • Batteries: 35 battery cells with 6 lithium-ion batteries in each cell, for a total of 210 batteries and 4.2 kWh
  • Motor: 5kw Mitsuba M2096-DIII. 6.7 horsepower (ea. HP is 746w)
  • Wheels: 3 Mitsuba aluminum 14”
  • Chassis: aluminum space frame
  • Top speed: 75mph
  • Average road speed: 45 mph
  • With its current North Carolina vehicle registration, insurance and functioning horn and turn signals, Apperion is a “street-legal” vehicle, although it can only drive during daylight hours.
Success, Appalachian-style

Appalachian’s solar vehicle team is the only North Carolina team in the competition and the only team in the South to qualify for the American Solar Challenge. 2016 was the first time a North Carolina solar team competed in this race. In its first competition, Team Sunergy’s accolades included:

  • Third in Formula Sun Grand Prix
  • Sixth in American Solar Challenge
  • Winner, Abraham Poot Teamwork Award
  • Winner, Fastest Egress award (driver Lindsay Rudisill)
News coverage
  • Appalachian State University Team Races Solar Car Across The Country - WFDD
  • ASU’s Team Sunergy and ‘Apperion’ Take on the Formula Sun Grand Prix This Week - High Country Press
  • American Solar Challenge underway - WKYC
  • ASU Solar Vehicle Team finishes sixth in Solar Challenge - Watauga Democrat

Envisioning the future: solar transportation

“This team’s work on the solar vehicle Apperion represents the bold, confident and pioneering attitude that so perfectly represents our campus and its vision to build a brighter future.”

Chancellor Sheri N. Everts

The team sees their accomplishments as a new start line. Next up, building a car that will move the technology closer to a vehicle consumers will drive on a daily basis.

“Hopefully, [future generations] will be driving solar cars and won’t have to think about problems like the emissions coming out of their cars every time they are driving,” said Andrew Grimes, the team’s interim business director and a senior finance and banking major. “For them, the solution will already be here.”

As Team Sunergy departed campus for the ASC competition, Chancellor Sheri N. Everts captured the significance of their enthusiasm for making the world a better place. The team’s work, she said, “represents the bold, confident and pioneering attitude that so perfectly represents our campus and its vision to build a brighter future.”

Team Sunergy’s passion for – and understanding of – sustainability led them down a road that began with a conversation, took them on a 2,000-mile journey and ultimately will lead to the car of the future.

Racing the Sun: History of Apperion
Racing the Sun: History of Apperion
Aug. 17, 2016

How does a group of students end up building a solar car and entering it in an international, collegiate competition? It began with Dan Blakeley, an Army Ranger who was looking to the future, and who would become the leader of Team Sunergy. Inspired to build a solar car by his sustainable transportation instructor, Blakeley found funding and academic support to convert a golf cart from gas to solar power, build a race car prototype, and learn from everyone and every opportunity he could find.

Read the story
Racing the Sun: The Competition
Racing the Sun: The Competition
Aug. 17, 2016

What is this competition, anyway? An international event that involves designing, building and racing solar vehicles, the competition is two-fold. It is comprised of the Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) and the American Solar Challenge (ASC).

Read the story
Racing the Sun: The Team
Racing the Sun: The Team
Aug. 17, 2016

Meet the Sunergy solar vehicle team led by student leader and veteran Dan Blakeley — leading, taking charge, delegating and all actively learning.

Read the story
Racing the Sun: A Vision for the Future
Racing the Sun: A Vision for the Future
Aug. 17, 2016

Dream along with Appalachian’s Team Sunergy about a cruiser class solar vehicle, the next generation for sustainable transportation.

Read the story
Support Team Sunergy
Support Team Sunergy

Make a donation now!

Appalachian State and Team Sunergy are committed to improving the future of transportation and the quality of life for the next generation. Right now, the team is developing technology to do just that, but needs your help.

Make a donation now
Related links
  • Team Sunergy
  • Team Sunergy blog
  • American Solar Challenge
  • Team status and results
  • University Sustainability
  • National Park Service
  • Pittsburgh International Race Complex
  • Appalachian vehicle finishes in sixth place in American Solar Challenge
  • Appalachian’s solar vehicle team places third in the Formula Sun Grand Prix
  • Appalachian’s solar vehicle team qualifies for 2016 American Solar Challenge
  • Solar Vehicle Team preps for summer competition, displays car at local events

About Team Sunergy

Appalachian State University’s internationally recognized Team Sunergy is an interdisciplinary team with a passion for sustainable transportation — and the ingenuity, innovation and drive to create it. Its premier solar car, Apperion, gained national attention with top-three finishes in the 2016 and 2017 Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP), an international collegiate endurance competition that sets the standards for and tests the limits of solar vehicle technology. In 2018, the team’s second, Cruiser Class car, ROSE (Racing on Solar Energy), placed third in the FSGP competition and tied for second place in the American Solar Challenge — an international solar vehicle distance road race held biennially by the Innovators Educational Foundation. In FSGP 2021, Team Sunergy captured second place in its class, advancing to the ASC and winning first place for multiple-occupant vehicles. Learn more at https://sunergy.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As the premier public undergraduate institution in the Southeast, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls nearly 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.

Acknowledgements

Web work by Pete Montaldi and Derek Wycoff. Video production by Garrett Ford. Photography by Marie Freeman, with additional images by Bailey Winecoff and Dr. Lee Ball. Audio production by Dave Blanks. Writing by Megan Hayes and Elisabeth Wall. Art by Jim Fleri. Editing by Linda Coutant. Logistics management by Stephanie Naoum. Technical support by Wes Craig. Creative direction and executive production by Troy Tuttle.

Special thanks to Dr. Lee Ball and Dr. Jeremy Ferrell for the context, history and on-site updates.

Shoutout to the Principia College and Iowa State University for the support, mentorship and parts you generously provided to Team Sunergy.

Very special thanks to Andrew Grimes, and every member of Team Sunergy. You are an inspiration.

What do you think?

Share your feedback on this story.

“Our team not only sees this as a project and a challenge – they see this as part of the larger picture that has to do with integrating sustainability into building a solar race car.”

Dr. Jeremy Ferrell, faculty advisor

View larger image
View larger image

“This team’s work on the solar vehicle Apperion represents the bold, confident and pioneering attitude that so perfectly represents our campus and its vision to build a brighter future.”

Chancellor Sheri N. Everts

View larger image
View larger image
View larger image
Success, Appalachian-style

Appalachian’s solar vehicle team is the only North Carolina team in the competition and the only team in the South to qualify for the American Solar Challenge. 2016 was the first time a North Carolina solar team competed in this race. In its first competition, Team Sunergy’s accolades included:

  • Third in Formula Sun Grand Prix
  • Sixth in American Solar Challenge
  • Winner, Abraham Poot Teamwork Award
  • Winner, Fastest Egress award (driver Lindsay Rudisill)
News coverage
  • Appalachian State University Team Races Solar Car Across The Country - WFDD
  • ASU’s Team Sunergy and ‘Apperion’ Take on the Formula Sun Grand Prix This Week - High Country Press
  • American Solar Challenge underway - WKYC
  • ASU Solar Vehicle Team finishes sixth in Solar Challenge - Watauga Democrat
View larger image
View larger image
View larger image
View larger image
View larger image
Related links
  • Team Sunergy
  • Team Sunergy blog
  • American Solar Challenge
  • Team status and results
  • University Sustainability
  • National Park Service
  • Pittsburgh International Race Complex
  • Appalachian vehicle finishes in sixth place in American Solar Challenge
  • Appalachian’s solar vehicle team places third in the Formula Sun Grand Prix
  • Appalachian’s solar vehicle team qualifies for 2016 American Solar Challenge
  • Solar Vehicle Team preps for summer competition, displays car at local events

What do you think?

Share your feedback on this story.

Share

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  • Sustainability

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Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.

The migration of materials from other sites is still incomplete, so if you cannot find what you're looking for here, please refer to the following sources:

  • Additional feature stories may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • Podcasts may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • Photo galleries and videos published prior to Jan. 1, 2015 may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • A university-wide Google Calendar may be found at Events at Appalachian

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Archives

Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.

The migration of materials from other sites is still incomplete, so if you cannot find what you're looking for here, please refer to the following sources:

  • Additional feature stories may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • Podcasts may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • Photo galleries and videos published prior to Jan. 1, 2015 may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • A university-wide Google Calendar may be found at Events at Appalachian
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