Appalachian’s Team Sunergy travels to World Solar Challenge in Australia to advise Chilean team

View larger image — Team Sunergy departed for the World Solar Challenge in Australia on Sept. 29. Pictured are junior Kali Smith of Connelly Springs, the team’s operations director; Director of Sustainability Lee F. Ball, the team’s faculty advisor; graduate student Dan Blakeley of Olympia, Washington, the team’s leader and project director; and sophomore Wyatt Bailey of Burlington, the team’s assistant mechanical director. Photo by Troy Tuttle

By Elisabeth Wall

Posted Oct. 2, 2017 at 11:09 a.m.

BOONE, N.C.—Appalachian State University’s Team Sunergy is in Australia, assisting Chilean solar vehicle Team Antakari as its races nearly 2,000 miles from Darwin to Adelaide, Australia for the 2017 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC).

Members of Appalachian’s solar vehicle team left Boone Friday, Sept. 29, for more than two weeks Down Under. They will advise the Chilean team on electrical engineering challenges while also learning about the race, in which Team Sunergy hopes to compete in 2019.

Graduate student and Team Sunergy project director and leader Dan Blakeley said the Chilean team reached out to Appalachian’s solar vehicle team because of its stellar performance in U.S. races over the past two years, and specifically because of its expertise in electrical engineering.

The BWSC has become widely recognized as the world’s foremost innovation challenge. Teams from around the world develop cutting-edge technology and test it under rigorous conditions, with a goal of advancing marketable, solar-powered electric vehicle technology.

This year marks the event’s 14th crossing of Australia and the 30-year anniversary.

Appalachian’s director of sustainability, Dr. Lee Ball, said Team Sunergy plans to take a cruiser class vehicle to BWSC in two years. “This will give us a chance to do a bit of recon – to learn how the race works and traverse the course. And, we can share with our Chilean partners what we’ve learned from participating in the Formula Sun Grand Prix and the American Solar Challenge,” he said.

Traveling with Ball are Blakeley, who is from Olympia, Washington, and his fellow Team Sunergy leaders: Operations Director Kali Smith, a junior from Connelly Springs; Assistant Electric Director Cristian Gulisano, a senior from Chapel Hill; and Assistant Mechanical Director Wyatt Bailey, a sophomore from Burlington.

About the BWSC

The BWSC begins in Darwin, Australia on Sunday, Oct. 8, and finishes Oct. 15. In the week preceding the event, teams must pass “scrutineering,” a grueling series of practical safety and compliance tests to qualify for the start line. The final qualifying activities are the time trials at Hidden Valley on Saturday, Oct. 7.

Once the teams leave Darwin, they must travel as far as possible each day until 5 p.m. when they make camp. All teams must be fully self-sufficient.

During the journey, there are seven mandatory check points where observers change and team managers get updates on the weather and their position in the field. At checkpoints, teams may also perform basic maintenance. Learn more at https://www.worldsolarchallenge.org

About App State’s Team Sunergy

Appalachian State University’s internationally recognized Team Sunergy is an interdisciplinary, student-led team with a passion for sustainable transportation — and the ingenuity, innovation and drive to create it. The team began in fall 2013, as a class project to build a solar-powered golf cart, and has evolved into an award-winning program that has achieved podium finishes in every year of competition in both the Formula Sun Grand Prix and American Solar Challenge (ASC), including first-place finishes in both the 2021 and 2026 ASCs. Both collegiate races set the standards for and test the limits of solar vehicle technology. Team Sunergy’s first vehicle, Apperion, was a modified single-occupant race car; it was replaced by the two-passenger ROSE (Racing on Solar Energy) in 2018, and in summer 2026, the team unveiled its current vehicle, Autumn — a two-passenger Cruiser Class car. Learn more about App State’s Team Sunergy at https://sunergy.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, cost-effective education. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.