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View larger image

ROSE, the solar vehicle team's new Cruiser Class solar car. ROSE — which stands for Racing on Solar Energy — was unveiled at the Holmes Convocation Center on Appalachian State University's campus at 1 p.m. Friday, June 22. ROSE will compete in major solar car races in July, but the vehicle was designed for comfort, practicality and real-world transportation solutions. About 150 people attended the unveiling. Photo by Chase Reynolds

Racing on Solar Energy — the evolution of ROSE and Appalachian’s solar vehicle team

Formula Sun Grand Prix 2018 current statistics
Formula Sun Grand Prix 2018 current statistics

Motorsport Park Hastings
Hastings, Nebraska

Team Sunergy competes in the Formula Sun Grand Prix July 10–12, 2018

Laps completed
113
Miles driven
242
View official race page

Chancellor Sheri Everts has been a champion from the start, praising the team in 2016 for “work that represents the bold, confident and pioneering attitude that so perfectly represents our campus and its vision to build a brighter future.”

By Elisabeth Wall
Posted June 22, 2018 at 1:30 p.m.

BOONE, N.C. — ROSE is ready to race.

ROSE is a Cruiser Class solar vehicle — the division for solar cars that could be practical in the real world, owing to seating capacity, range, amenities and speed.

The second car built by Team Sunergy, Appalachian State University’s student-led solar vehicle team, was unveiled Friday, June 22, at the Holmes Convocation Center.

The performance of the team and ROSE — an acronym for Racing on Solar Energy — will be an indication of how well Appalachian will stack up at the 2019 World Solar Challenge in Australia. A number of telling hurdles remain — both on and off the track.

Formula Sun Grand Prix 2018 current statistics
Formula Sun Grand Prix 2018 current statistics

Motorsport Park Hastings
Hastings, Nebraska

Team Sunergy competes in the Formula Sun Grand Prix July 10–12, 2018

Laps completed
113
Miles driven
242
View official race page

In the immediate future, the team must survive back-to-back events taking place over the month of July. First up is a grueling four-day inspection called scrutineering and a subsequent race at the Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) in Nebraska. Then, if ROSE qualifies, the team will compete in this year’s American Solar Challenge (ASC), which travels across the Oregon Trail. The road portion of the ASC will cover more than 1,700 miles along the trail from Nebraska to Oregon.

Chancellor Sheri Everts has been a champion from the start, praising the team in 2016 for “work that represents the bold, confident and pioneering attitude that so perfectly represents our campus and its vision to build a brighter future.”

After almost a year of development, the team’s executive faculty director, Dan Blakeley ’15 ’18, said ROSE, and the team, are ready for the ASC.

This is not his first rodeo. Blakeley is a seasoned soldier, a U.S. Army Ranger with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the solar car team’s founder and former student team leader. When asked about Team Sunergy’s chances at the race, he grinned and replied: “Very good. Practicality-wise and appearance-wise, we have an edge. And, when we look at the car, we say, ‘Oh, man! I’d drive that!’”

Fifteen team members and four faculty advisors, including Blakeley, will leave Boone Thursday, July 5, to begin the journey.

The first hurdle is crossing the country with ROSE in tow, arriving in time to settle in and begin the FSGP scrutineering on July 6. Nine members will travel with the car; the rest will fly to Nebraska July 5. (Details are being ironed out for the carbon offset of the team’s travel.*)

If ROSE qualifies, the team will move on to the ASC.

View larger image
Anatomy of a ROSE

It took vision, collaboration, scholarly research and Mountaineer ingenuity to build ROSE. ROSE is made from infused carbon fiber, an extremely light material that does not sacrifice strength. It features seating for two, conventionally opening doors, a set of instrument gauges for fuel, speed and other information, turn signals and — an amenity the team is particularly excited about — cup holders.

ROSE charges from its solar array as well as by traditional electric vehicle wall-charging ports. The car can reach speeds up to 75 miles per hour.

ROSE specs:

Designed and built entirely in-house by student team members, ROSE is Team Sunergy’s first Cruiser Class entry and second solar vehicle to date. ROSE will be a four-wheeled, two-passenger vehicle capable of charging its batteries from its array, as well as by traditional electric vehicle wall-charging ports. Engineered for racing, ROSE also satisfies safety, accessibility and utility requirements, featuring an electronic dashboard, speakers, cup holders, cargo space and — of course — a passenger seat.

Mechanical specs:
  • Body and chassis: carbon fiber aeroshell with lightweight, honeycomb chassis.
  • Suspension: double wishbone suspension.
  • Brakes: double redundant hydraulic braking system, regenerative braking system.
  • Tires: Bridgestone ECOPIA with ologic technology solar car tires.
  • Roll cage: 1” OD 4130 chromoly.
  • Safety:
    • Five-point harness on both driver and passenger seats.
    • Aluminum honeycomb impact attenuator crush zones.
    • Drape-formed polycarbonate windshield.
Performance stats:
  • Top speed: 75 mph.
  • Range: 300 miles on a single charge (no solar input).
  • Charge time (0–90% state of charge): four hours from level 1 charging station, one hour from level 2.
  • Peak cruising speed: 55 mph.
Features:
  • Two seats.
  • Spacious interior.
  • Two cup holders.
  • 7” HD digital dashboard.
  • Dedicated cargo area.
Electrical specs:
  • 900 lithium-Ion 18650 batteries with 13.2 kWh capacity, max power output of 11 kW (or voltage range, amps, etc.).
  • 326 SunPower monocrystalline solar cells with a max power output of 1,250 W.
  • 2x Mitsuba 3-phase PMAC brushless, high-efficiency electric motors with a combined 13.4 horsepower and 50 ft-lbs of torque.

‘I want to build a solar-powered race car’

View larger image

Dan Blakeley '15' 18. Photo by Chase Reynolds

In the fall of 2013, former SVT advisor Chris Tolbert held a Transportations Systems class that challenged students to complete a major class project in the subject area. Having a passion for racing and sustainability, Blakeley suggested the class build a solar-powered car.

Blakeley then approached another of his professors, Dr. Jeremy Ferrell, assistant professor of sustainable technology in Appalachian’s Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment. Ferrell’s area of research is biofuels, especially as related to transportation.

Ferrell explained how Blakeley sought him out: “He said, ‘I hear you have some experience in transportation.’

“I said, ‘I do — what are you interested in?’ and he said, ‘I want to build a solar-powered race car.’

“I said, ‘Well, I haven’t really done that before, but I’d love to learn about it and jump in with you.’”

That was fall of 2014.

Proven prowess in racing’s ‘brain sport’

Over the next three years, team members researched competitions and the equipment needed to compete. They wrote grant proposals. They recruited peers from across Appalachian’s majors to create a well-functioning, interdisciplinary team.

A donated shell from Iowa State University led to the team’s first competition-ready solar car, Apperion. The team competed in the 2016 Formula Sun Grand Prix and American Solar Challenge, placing third and sixth, respectively. A second-place finish in 2017’s Formula Sun Grand Prix followed.

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Appalachian’s Team Sunergy gained respect for its pit stop strategy and discipline during the 2017 Formula Sun Grand Prix. The team took second place in the race, which was held at the Circuit of The Americas track in Austin, Texas. Photo by Marie Freeman

Team Sunergy has proven its prowess on the racetrack and in engineering challenges, competing internationally in the “brain sport” of solar vehicle racing. Now, the heat is on to perform as well, if not better, in Nebraska, with an eye on racing well in Australia in 2019. Blakeley said he thinks they have the vehicle to do so.

First, he said, he has complete faith in the vehicle’s integrity. Second, he said, “We have a lot of support within the solar car community.

“Keisuke Nomura — he supplies about half of the solar motors in the solar car racing world — told us ‘I’m sending this team their weapons because their car looks like a James Bond car, an Aston Martin, and I want to be sure the winning team receives them on time!’”

Nomura is only one of a number of corporate and faculty partners who have assisted as Team Sunergy literally built ROSE from the ground up. The solar vehicle racing blogger Tony Dekker posts about the team at every race on his blog Scientific Gems and follows the team closely.

Kali Smith, the team’s operations director and a senior environmental economics and policy major from Connelly Springs, said, “We reached out to a guy about getting caps for our batteries. He literally wrote the book on building battery packs. He said, ‘Hey, did you think of this? Did you think of that?’ He wants to help us.”

Team Sunergy sponsors and donors

Behind Appalachian State University’s student-run solar car team, Team Sunergy, is a village stepping up to help change the face of transportation.

Listed below are the university and business sponsors and donors who made a difference as the team designed and built its 2018 Cruiser Class vehicle, ROSE (Racing on Solar Energy).

University sponsors

Office of the Chancellor
Sustain Appalachian — Office of Sustainability

Adviser: Lee Ball

The Office of Sustainability has aided team Sunergy in numerous ways, including providing an office space, aiding in acquiring funds and purchasing products, human resources and advocating on behalf of the team across campus and the state.

College of Fine and Applied Arts — Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment

Advisers: Dan Blakeley, Jeremy Ferrell, Chris Tolbert, Brian Raichle

College of Arts and Sciences — Department of Physics and Astronomy

Adviser: Brad Johnson

The Department of Physics and Astronomy allowed the team to use its machine shop, under the guidance of Mike Hughes and Dana Greene. Hughes and Greene helped build all of the suspension components of the team’s two cars — ROSE and Apperion.

Mechanical systems sponsors

VX Aerospace

VX Aerospace aided in designing the molds of ROSE and assisted in the carbon fiber infusion process, as well as providing technical advice and expertise on finishing car touches.

The following individuals from VX personally assisted the team: Corina Cojocaru, Keith Taylor, Bob Skillen and Blin Richards.

MOBS Fab

Manufacturer of ROSE’s roll cage.

Compmillennia

Donated two carbon fiber race seats to be used in ROSE.

Bridgestone

Provided three sets (12 total) of ECOPIA with ologic technology solar car tires.

Software sponsors

Mathworks

Used for mathematical analysis through programming for ROSE’s suspension.

SolidWorks

3D modeling, stress analysis and computer-aided flow design.

Altium

Used to design ROSE’s printed circuit board (PCB) — the brain of the car.

Electrical systems sponsors

Appalachian State Renewable Energy Initiative (ASUREI)

Sponsored the purchase of most of ROSE’s electrical components.

Vicor

Lifetime sponsor of any power converters (DC/DC) necessary to build ROSE.

VRUZEND

Micah Toll, owner of VRUZEND, provided technical expertise on batteries and battery assembly while providing all the battery caps for ROSE’s car battery.

Newark element14

Provided various electrical components used in ROSE at discounted rates or at no cost to the team.

Mitsuba Corporation

Manufacturer of ROSE’s electric motors.

Nomura Co.

Provided discounts for solar car parts.

Other sponsors

Action Sign Creative

Responsible for the vinyl wrapping on Team Sunergy’s cars — Apperion and ROSE — and the vehicles’ transportation trailer.

Steeby Solarcar Scholarship

Main donors are Jane McCoy and Ruby Hughes, and the scholarship has provided nine student scholarships for members of Appalachian’s solar vehicle team.

CommScope

Provided financial support to Team Sunergy in the form of a scholarship awarded to team member Diego Lewis, who completed an internship with the company.

Goodnight Brothers Country Ham

Provided financial support to Team Sunergy.

Bissell Family Foundation

Provided financial support to Team Sunergy.

Runnin' on Shine

The story of Appalachian State University's Team Sunergy

An informative documentary that follows Appalachian State University's Team Sunergy as they compete in the 2017 Formula Sun Grand Prix. Team Sunergy travels from Boone, North Carolina, to Austin, Texas, for three days of solar racing at the United States’ premier Formula 1 track, Circuit of the Americas.

Transcript

Narrator: In the fall of 2013 a small group of faculty and students at Appalachian State University initiated a project unlike any other in the university's history. Build a vehicle completely powered by solar energy and use that vehicle to compete in competitions with universities from around the world. With no engineering program at the university, Appalachian State's Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment provided a home for the team and their vehicle, a slightly used, fiberglass body donated from Iowa State University's solar car team. Over the months to come, many student and faculty hours were poured into a myriad of tasks involving electronics, solar arrays, and mechanical work, as well as fundraising, self-promotion, and countless other business-related necessities, until Team Sunergy and their car Apperion were born.

The team found its first official challenge at the Pittsburgh International Race Complex for the 2016 Formula Sun Grand Prix. 20 teams from around the world racing their vehicles for three days, completing as many laps as possible using only solar energy to power them. In their debut, Team Sunergy surprised everyone except themselves, placing third overall in the competition. A podium finish for this young team not only marked their place on the map of collegiate solar sports, but also marked the beginning of what was yet to come.

[Team Sunergy Garage, Boone, NC]

[April 2017]

Dan Blakeley, Project Director: All the team members, when we're setting up for it, so as soon as the chancellor gets here, pretty much, just hop behind the car. So you guys just line up behind the car, John be on the end so that you can go back and grab that.

So today we're out at the new Team Sunergy space. We invited everybody from around campus that have been huge supporters of the solar vehicle team to come and share in this moment of unveiling the new and improved look of Apperion. We wanted to show everybody that it was something new, something more to get excited about and make sure that excitement stays with the Appalachian community.

To me, the one word that describes this car is stunning.

The team is getting ready. They're preparing, they're getting ready for the race this summer. We're racing again at the Formula Sun Grand Prix, but what's great about this time is we're racing at the Circuit of the Americas, it's in Austin, Texas, and it's the United States' premier Formula One Track. We know exactly what needs to be done as far as preparations are concerned. We have a better race strategy. We have improved technology throughout the car. We're hoping this year we can be on top and really prove everybody proud.

Duvey Rudow, Assistant Project Director: You know what I mean? Just like the soldering in general.

Voice: Oh no, you're [crosstalk]

Duvey Rudow: Yeah, we're just waiting for the weekend to actually ...

The team is very ready for the race. We really have an amazing group of people going this year. We have some people from last year, but we also have a lot of new people that are gonna be around for a while. So this summer, we kind of have opened up the warehouse, so anybody on the team can come in and do work whenever they need to. We normally spend about 20 hours as a team in the warehouse. We work every weekend 10 to 5, and then we have some work days during the week as well. But really it's just fine tuning the car, installing new systems, testing systems, and making sure that the car is race ready for the summer.

Voice: I just spent like two hours of my life on it. It better work.

Duvey Rudow: This is actually the last year that the car that we have will be eligible for competitions at all, so we're really trying to push what we've done last year and make it a little bit better, so we've updated our telemetry system. We're hoping that we can have all of the data this summer, we can save it and then analyze it after the race. The new thing that we're doing this year is we're offsetting all of our carbon emissions from everything. So we're working with an offsetting company and we've been tracking our own emissions from this semester and then we'll actually offset all of those emissions. So we'll be one of the first carbon neutral solar vehicle teams. And then at the race, we'll actually be giving a short presentation to other teams and encouraging them to go carbon neutral as well.

The main difference between this year and last year is the fact that we have racing experience. We're not going into this new and green and we're really excited to go to the track and really show all of the other teams that we are a team to contend with. That last year wasn't a fluke, that we are a team that all of the other teams have to watch out for.

Voice: Alright, loud noise! And there it is.

[State Farm Lot, Boone, NC]

[7 days before the race]

Chris Tolbert, Team Sunergy Advisor: The team going out this year has a lot more confidence than we've ever had. Confidence in respect of that we've been able to test the car, we've been able to tune the car, we've actually worked a year on the car with it rolling as opposed to not rolling. And that makes a huge difference going into a competition because we kind of know what to expect out of the vehicle. We know, for instance they were testing braking, and we made a lot of changes and all those changes have made a huge difference in our performance. Also we've improved our suspension system, our braking system, and our tires. Tires make a huge difference, and we've found what tires will last longer on the track, much like in NASCAR when you're having to pit, if you have to pit two more times than everybody else, you're probably not going to do well in the race, and so the same thing is true with this car. We've gotten a system where we think we can stay out longer on the track without having to pit.

A day at the track is gonna be relentless heat. Track temperatures at the asphalt level will probably about 135 degrees. So we will be facing a challenging environment. I hope the transition is smooth that when we get to Texas we'll unpack, we'll be ready to hit the track running. And if we don't forget anything would be good.

[Team Sunergy Garage, Boone, NC]

[3 days before the race]

Voice: Oh so just [crosstalk] ...

Dan Blakeley: A lot of preparation and a lot of meetings are going into these last few days. I think a lot of the team is mentally preparing. A lot of drills, a lot of making sure that the team members know exactly what they're supposed to be doing day in and day out. The vehicle that we're bringing to the competition is the best that it can be, just like we're making sure that we're the best we can be. I think the biggest challenge for any team going into any solar car race is just making sure that they're prepared and overly prepared because in solar car racing you're dealing with a lot of electronics and anything can go wrong and so if you're prepared for that one mistake to happen or that one component to die on you, if you're ready to swap it out and get right back on the track and make that fix, then that's the biggest hurdle but also the one that every team needs to prepare for.

So last year we were at Pit International Raceway, it was about 1.2 miles long and it was a lot of tighter with a lot of the vehicles. This year we're going to Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, which is the premier American F1 track and so this track is built for racing, for high performance vehicles. It's 3.4 miles long and so it's almost three times as big as it was last year. There's one monstrous hill that every team knows about when they go to this track that they try and overcome and we know for a fact that our vehicle will make it up that hill and we'll have no problems at all. But realistically, it's just looking at the track, looking at the weather, looking at how our car performs, knowing the strategy of the other teams and making sure that we can take that into account with our strategy and racing.

It is about winning. Everybody wants to win, obviously. You wouldn't compete in something if you didn't care a little bit about winning. But for me and I think for the team, especially for Appalachian State University, it's much more important to keep this going and keep the technology advancing. And so to get everybody to have that experience and understand the impact that this has, especially in the community and those around us and amongst other teams even, is really important. And for them to carry that into the future and the design of the future cars and keep building these things and keep advancing the technology, and keep proving to the public that this is the future of transportation, I think that's what's much more important for the team. And that's the way I look at it.

Last year was a lot of unknowns. We didn't know how the car was gonna perform, we didn't know how the team was gonna perform. This year, we feel much more confident. We have a lot of preparation under our belt. We've put in thousands of hours this summer between all of us. We're ready to race. We're ready to really bring it home and make sure we make Appalachian proud.

[Circuit of the Americas (COTA), Austin, TX]

[Day 1 of scrutineering]

Narrator: Before the cars line up and the green flag drops, each team and their vehicle must undergo a litany of inspections and qualifications called scrutineering. Formula Sun Grand Prix staff have the teams test their vehicles in everything from dynamics and stability to electronics efficiency and safety measures, ensuring that each car is capable of competing on the track.

Dan Blakeley: As of right now, the plan is to have telemetry here, have pit right in front of our garage. Since we're the furthest team back, it's actually like one of the perfect places to be.

Find shade, go in the garage, take a radio with you, wait to be called, stuff like that. But you should not be sitting in the sun unless you absolutely have to.

Alright, anybody got anything else? Let's get after it.

Narrator: Wasting no team, Team Sunergy hops right in, completing several of the tests in the first half day of scrutineering, vying to complete their checklist before any other team because, at the Formula Sun Grand Prix, the order in which the teams complete scrutineering determines where they line up at the beginning of the race on day one.

[Day 2 of scrutineering]

Narrator: The next morning finds Team Sunergy back on the testing grounds early, trying to get in the inspections behind them and Apperion onto the track.

Dan Blakeley: So, it is official, we turned in the scrutineering sheets. Not only are we done with scrutineering, but we definitely have pole position starting the race.

Narrator: Even with the coveted pole position and the huge hurdle of scrutineering behind them, the team now has precious extra time to check and recheck Apperion's settings, reevaluate their race strategy as well as contemplate and troubleshoot any unforeseen obstacles.

Jake Barnes, Electrical Director / Pit Boss: So right now, we made some changes and calibrations to the accelerator, so we're trying to get the drivers used to the sensitivity of the accelerator as well as coasting and regen. We wanna test them out before we get on the track tomorrow. We finished first in scrutineering, so we're on track to start out the race in the lead position. We're feeling very confident compared to last year, going in, and we just wanna double check every nut, bolt, and make sure that everything's good to go for tomorrow.

Narrator: The final day before the race also affords each of the teams an opportunity to tour the track and to finalize any last minute driver strategies.

Cristian Gulisano, Assistant Electrical Director / Driver: So this morning we got to go about the track, did a few laps and really see kind of like, feel what we're gonna be doing the next few days. As part of our driver preparation, we wanted to get a feel for how the track may be and so we used some video games. One in particular called Forza Motorsports, which we play on the Xbox and luckily Circuit of the Americas is one of the featured racetracks on Forza. It's a driver simulation video game so it's very good physics on the game, and very realistic maps and stuff like that, and so we were able to use the video game to kind of test out where we can coast, how much we may need a break, we're able to replicate that as close as possible, and so that's definitely helped us get a really good visualization as to what to expect. But it's really something else once you're on the track and the first hill, it's pretty deceiving until you start going up it, but it's pretty cool.

[Day 1 of racing]

Dan Blakeley: It's game time. Time to get in the zone. Stick to our game plan, make sure we run our race, not somebody else's. And we'll do great. App State on three, ready? One, two, three. App State.

Narrator: The race starts with Sam Biagioli driving the first leg for Team Sunergy, staying at the helm for five hours. During that time, a problem with the car's accelerator strands Apperion on the side of the track and the pit crew responds. Unable to perform what is needed right then and there, Team Sunergy has to be towed back to the garage, losing valuable time and laps.

Sam Biagioli, Assistant Electrical Director / Driver: The main thing with driving the solar car is about conserving energy and maximizing your distance traveled with the energy that you do consume. So you always have to be keeping in mind how do I conserve my momentum through this turn or down this hill or up this hill? And just try and drive the most consistently and effectively. So when the car broke down, I initially noticed it when I was exiting turn one and the accelerator was locked and engaged. So it was accelerating down the hill when I was not wanting it to. And what happened was just the potentiometer that we have just slid with the pedal and just needed to be reset as well. So it was a little disappointing to have to pull off the track and have to tow the rest of that lap, but I do believe we can make up for lost time.

Narrator: The team pits for a quick driver change, putting Duvey Rudow behind the wheel.

The rest of the day is incident free, and Duvey is able to gain momentum and laps, putting Team Sunergy in third place at the end of day one.

[Day 2 of racing]

Narrator: Day two of racing starts strong for Team Sunergy, with driver Lindsay Rudisill gaining laps and pushing the team into an early lead. But again, an issue with the accelerator forces the team off the track and back into the garage.

Lucas Tax, Electrical Team / Pit Crew: So the potentiometer that we replaced last night, the shaft was a bit too short, so the pedal slipped off the potentiometer and so we needed to drill a bit of a hole into it to get it some grip and then we super glued it to keep it together, so hopefully it'll just stay, the whole mechanism will stay together from now on.

Narrator: After another quick response from the pit and mechanics teams, Lindsay is back on the track and in 5th place. It's really easy to lose yourself in the action on the track at the Formula Sun Grand Prix. At face value, it may just seem like any other race, but anyone who has ever competed in this brain sport will tell you there's much more to it than simply racing for a trophy.

Dr. Brian Raichle, Team Sunergy Advisor: What we're doing here is important at all levels. I mean the team is really tackling an important problem, transportation consumes an awful lot of energy and it's gonna be a long process before we can wean ourselves off of fossil fuel based transportation, so we need to do a lot of work. We're coming up with solutions that we'll see on the road maybe in a decade or certainly in our lifetimes, but we have to start working on these problems now and racing's a great way to get people excited about working on the problems.

This provides a great opportunity for the students. They can really take on leadership roles, develop technical expertise, learn how to work as a team, learn to support each other, love each other. The team talks about it every day. Work hard, be professional, but have fun, and whatever happens, happens. It's all about being prepared and being in the position to be successful. It's really really great for them.

Gail Lueck, Event Director, Formula Sun Grand Prix: There's a lot of student design competitions out there. There's robotics competitions, there's steel bridge, concrete canoe. A lot of those competitions are housed sort of within one engineering department. For the Formula Sun Grand Prix, it's really about providing that additional learning opportunity and really keeping up with a multi-disciplined sport of its not just about the engineering or designing ability, car even, it's about all of the fundraising, and marketing, and logistics. So it's more than just sitting at the university in a lab, working on a project, they actually have to design and build the car and then they have to come run it. They have to prove that it works, it's not just a theoretical type thing. So that's what I would say would really set the Formula Sun Grand Prix apart from some of the other design competitions you see out there.

The solar car racing community in general tends to be a community that really supports sportsmanship and teamwork. And so a lot of the learning also becomes the teams sharing knowledge with each other and helping bring other teams along.

Jim Dunham, Team Advisor, Illinois State University: Even teams that are competing for a trophy, if one team loses their motor controller, the team that might be one lap ahead will lend them the controller at risk of losing their position to that team. When one team qualifies, their students usually will walk around and offer to help all the other teams that are struggling. Even the inspectors, they're strict on the rules, they're tough, but at the same time they will give a lot of suggestions, and they will bend over backwards, just do everything they can to help the teams qualify. So the supportive environment is great.

Gail Lueck: Every single one of these 18 teams that are here, wants to see every other team get through and pass scrutineering and get out on the track. Even if it means that they only get to complete one lap tomorrow, they're still getting education that goes far beyond what they learn in a textbook, or solving a very structured problem in the classroom setting.

Narrator: Lindsay is able to get Team Sunergy back into second place before she hands the wheel over to Cristian Gulisano for the final leg of the day. The pit team has to move quickly, also changing tires in this pit stop and every second spent in the pit is a second lost on the track.

Voice: All right, can somebody pull the block?

Voice: I can pull the block. One, two, three. Up!

Kali Smith, Operations Lead / Pit Crew: The teams right now in the day are doing about six minute laps. So that means that if our car comes off we have exactly six minutes to fix everything that we need to if we wanna keep our position. So the fact that we came off this last time and we had a two minute change kept us right in second place and that's exactly what we need right now when we're trying to gain back every bit as possible.

It's really stressful. It's a lot more stressful than I thought it was gonna be. I thought, we practiced and everything will go great and we are just so prepared, and while we are prepared and we did practice, things just go wrong that you don't expect. So it's very stressful. I also didn't realize how fun it would be. Especially being around all these other teams and seeing how they trained, how their team operates and what works for them. And so ...it’s just a fantastic group of people and a fantastic project.

Voice: Go, go go! Let’s go!

Narrator: The checkered flag drops on day two and Team Sunergy is able to hold on to the second place spot. But their day is far from over. Teams are allowed to charge their batteries for several hours at the end of each day before the batteries are impounded by Formula Sun officials. The energy you’ve stored at the end of one day is what you have going into the next. But after a test is run on their car, Team Sunergy's vehicle suffers a critical system failure in one of its charging components. Time and sunshine are running out as the team weighs their options. But even their troubleshooting would be cut short.

An incoming thunderstorm sends every team scrambling for cover into the garages, securing gear and fragile electronics from the high winds and rain. The storm finally passes, allowing teams back out to soak up the last rays of the day. However, App State is left in the garage for the rest of the night, trying to fix the task at hand.

[Day 3 of racing]

Narrator: The final day of racing has arrived. And despite losing over an hour of charging time the night before, Apperion is ready to go back onto the track. The amazing spirit of sportsmanship of the Formula Sun community shone through once more. This time in the form of Principia College lending Team Sunergy a much-needed part, eliminating last night's system failure.

Steve Shedd, Team Advisor, Principia College: We're not here to win. We're not here to win the race, we're not here to come in first place. We're an educational institution, we're here for the students to learn. And they learn a lot of valuable lessons. So much of college you go to class by yourself, you go back to your room, you study by yourself, you take tests by yourself. The day you graduate, you go to work for a company and you're supposed to be a member of a team. Well being on solar car you learn how to be a good team member. How do you be a good follower? How are you a good leader? How do you trust others? How do you communicate? Lots of good lifelong skills that they learn that put them in good stead for the rest of their life, for sure. And the camaraderie here, we've always been big on that, helping other teams, getting help from other teams, for sure. Yeah it's a great, it's a great way to do it, for sure. We love it.

Narrator: With Lindsay Rudisill behind the wheel, Apperion makes an early jump to lead the pack. But soon, reports are coming in from other teams that App State is failing to honk their horn, a safety precaution required when passing another car. As it turns out, Apperion's horn is malfunctioning, and must be replaced. Team Sunergy's spare horn has already been lent to Georgia Tech, who was currently on the track. A new horn will be needed to get back out onto the track and back into contention.

Voice: Horn! Anybody have a horn?

Voice: We have a horn!

Narrator: Again, sportsmanship comes through in the clutch, and the University of Texas lends Appalachian a spare horn.

Tyler Coffey, Head Driver Operations Inspector, Formula Sun Grand Prix: That's one of the things we really like about the culture of this event, is it is a competition, but it's a competition that we want sorted out on the track and you can only pit the cars against each other if they make it out there. Even if a team breaks down, everyone's still willing to help them get them back out on the track, because everyone wants to prove that their car is the best, and you can't do that if everybody else's cars are sitting in the pit.

And a lot of these teams, decent number of the teams are still relatively new so they remember back to when they were the new team and showed up with a car that wasn't finished, it was missing key systems, things weren't working. And other teams stepped in with expertise and tools and materials to get them on the track, and it's all a pay it back or even pay it forward, sometime you're gonna have a critical part failure that you didn't have a spare of and someone else will just say, “Oh hey here we've got one of those. It's our last spare, but you're already down to needing it, so here, take it.” You see a lot of that around here, and it's great.

Narrator: Appalachian stays in the top three for the remainder of the day, running a neck and neck race with the University of California Berkeley, a team who has run a nearly perfect three day race. UC Berkeley eventually takes the checkered flag, finishing 10 laps ahead of second place finisher Appalachian State. Team Sunergy is thrilled yet again to be on the podium, and that their team, their car, and their race strategy held together for the duration.

[Team Sunergy Garage, Boone, NC]

[February 2018]

Dan Blakeley: Coming out of a race like the Formula Sun Grand Prix and placing second, you would think that our job is done and we're finished. That's not the case for our team. The second we got back, we picked up our pencils and paper, we started looking into the next race, the next competitions. What are we designing? What are we gonna be doing? This'll be the first car that we've designed and built from the ground up. This has our heart and soul into it. We're going into a new class, it's called the cruiser class, where it's multi-occupant, so you have more than just the driver and the car. For our car it'll be a two seater, so it'll have the driver and a passenger, and it'll have all the same creature comforts as a standard automobile. It'll have a trunk, cup holders, the doors will open in a standard way, we'll have audio and video entertainment system inside the car, standard gauges and dials, turn signals. It's gonna have the look and feel of a true automobile, a true car.

What I think is unique about our team is we come from Appalachian State University, a non-traditional, and a non-engineering school. Our students aren't sitting in classrooms learning about suspension design, about mechanical design, material science that you would typically pick up at an engineering school. Instead, our students are focusing on sustainability, and what it means to the greater community and how important it is to really look at sustainable transportation as a holistic approach, not just how are we building these cars and racing them and how well are we gonna compete? This is sustainability at its purest form, and it's important to look at an entire system and look at what is the sustainable approach from the ground up. To really show that you can build a vehicle that not only runs on sunshine, but one that people can walk up to and say, “Wow one day, I wanna drive this vehicle.” And so I'm really hoping that we kind of paint the picture of what the future will hold for everybody.

[Team Sunergy and its new cruiser class car will compete in the 2018 Formula Sun Grand Prix in Hastings, Nebraska.]

[Upon qualifying, the team will go on to participate in the American Solar Challenge: A road race covering 1,700 miles from Nebraska to Oregon.]

[They will travel a route many curious trailblazers before them have traveled...]

[...The Oregon Trail.]

How to grow a ROSE

ROSE — the finishing touches applied just hours before the unveiling — was built from the ground up by the students, with not an engineer on the team.

In early 2018, Appalachian’s Chief Sustainability Officer Lee F. Ball Jr. and Blakeley were invited to Beaufort by University of North Carolina System Board of Governors member Randall “Randy” Ramsey to meet his Jarrett Bay Boatworks team.

Ramsey thought the design team at his manufacturing company might have some good advice on aerodynamics and carbon fiber. The company is a premier builder of custom sport fishing boats, has constructed over 90 unique yachts and serviced tens of thousands of vessels.

That visit led to a side trip to meet a carbon manufacturer in Little Washington — Jim Gardner — whose company, Compmillenia LLC, ultimately provided the composite seats for ROSE at a substantial discount.

Serendipitously, Gardner’s wife, Ginger — a senior editor at CompositesWorld, a trade magazine targeted to the global composites market — suggested they visit VX Aerospace.

VX Aerospace is a composites manufacturing and design company that provides composite fabrication and assembly capabilities for commercial aerospace, transportation and industrial applications. One of their projects, a Dash X drone, compactly stows inside tactical aircrafts on military missions. A bonus: The company is located in Morganton, less than 40 miles from Boone.

With that entrée, Team Sunergy found a building space and a team of seasoned engineers to guide them as ROSE took shape. There were stops and starts and plenty of learning moments.

For one, when it was time to match the top and bottom of the vehicle’s carbon fiber body, the team realized it had not allowed for depth in the measurements, and what was a thin line in the drawing was actually a 1/4-inch edge. Adjustments included considerable shaving of the chassis parts and fitting, and refitting before the final bond.

Another big learning moment was with crafting the windows, Smith said. The team wanted the windows formed to the shape of the car, but had no idea how to do it.

Most teams design the windows to lay flat and not curve to the shape of the car, Smith said, but, “with trial and error over many days with our team and the professionals at VX Aerospace brainstorming, we were eventually able to get just the right amount of heat to make the material, LEXAN, malleable. Now that we know that we can share with other teams!”

See some of the building processes below.

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At VX Aerospace in Morganton, team members use a vacuum infusion process to make the carbon fiber body of ROSE, Team Sunergy’s second solar vehicle. Members fill buckets with resin that is then pulled through the fibers by a vacuum. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Hunter Bristow, foreground, is part of Team Sunergy’s electrical team. Bristow is a freshman sustainable technology major from Chapin, South Carolina. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy members Kali Smith, far left, Carlos Núñez García, second from right, and Halle Küttel patch the molds of ROSE’s carbon fiber body to ensure there are no leaks, providing a tight infusion and equal distribution of resin. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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VX Aerospace’s Corina Cojocaru, far left, serves as the team’s subject matter expert during the infusion process. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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As Hunter Bristow looks on, Team Sunergy Operations Director Kali Smith, far left, lays down carbon fiber for making the shell of the car. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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At VX Aerospace, Team Sunergy members Kali Smith, center, and Hunter Bristow, far right, watch as Corina Cojocaru checks the carbon fiber that was used to make the shell of the car. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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ROSE’s seats were donated by Compmillennia, a North Carolina-based company specializing in composite work for boats. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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The design of the car’s printed circuit board (PCB) — more or less the brain of the car — is displayed on a laptop computer. Team member Carlos Núñez García used Altium, an electronic design automation software, to generate the design. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy Executive Faculty Director Dan Blakeley, far left in foreground, explains to team members how a chassis panel wasn’t sized properly and would need to be redesigned and recut. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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A close-up of one of the car’s sandwich panels. Sandwich panels are used for the chassis in the car because of their high structural rigidity and low weight, and are made up of a low-density core with a thin skin-layer bonded to each side. ROSE’s sandwich panels are constructed of carbon fiber and honeycomb Kevlar provided by The Gill Corporation. This type of Kevlar is normally used in airliners, but The Gill Corporation had scrap pieces available that fit the team’s needs. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Tape is applied to prepare the sandwich panel to be shaved down to the correct size. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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A Team Sunergy member bonds the roll cage to the bottom shell of the car using a mixture of resin, Cab-O-Sil fumed silica, which is a powerful thickening agent, and chopped fiberglass. Dan Blakeley described the bonding agent as "incredibly strong." Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team members Hunter Bristow, left, and Halle Küttel sand and test fit panels for the chassis to ensure an exact fit. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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The chassis is flipped upside down to test fit it in the top shell of the car. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy member Halle Küttel sands chassis panels. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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James Furr, who performs mechanics and dynamics as a member of Team Sunergy, carries the car’s chassis. Due to the materials used, the chassis weighs approximately 30 pounds. If the team had used an all-metal chassis — which many teams do — it would have weighed at least three times as much. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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After bonding the roll cage to the bottom shell, a wet lay-up molding process is performed to ensure maximum structural integrity. The process combines a layer of reinforced fiber with liquid resin to create a high-quality laminate. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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With the chassis and roll cage bonded to the bottom shell, Team Sunergy members test the fit of the top shell. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy members Cody Waters, left, Carlos Núñez García, second from right, and Kali Smith prepare to place the top shell over the chassis while Halle Küttel — no, she isn’t sleeping — lies in the car to watch for gaps between the shells. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Kali Smith, Team Sunergy’s operations director, in foreground, tests the fit of the two shells of the car on the front passenger side. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy Mechanical Director Cody Waters sands the chassis to make sure the hood fits over it. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Carlos Núñez García, in foreground, places adhesive on every spot where the chassis meets the top shell. To ensure it holds, the team uses 3M’s Automix Panel Bonding Adhesive — the only officially licensed panel bonding adhesive of NASCAR. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy member Carlos Núñez García sands the car’s top shell. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Carlos Núñez García, who joined Team Sunergy in fall 2017. García is from Spain and came to Boone with his wife who held a teaching role in Appalachian’s Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. He tried to start a solar vehicle team in Spain and was excited to learn Appalachian had a team he could join. He designed the printed circuit board system for the car and assisted in the building of the body. García returned to Spain in May. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team member Halle Küttel sands the top shell of the car. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Back at Team Sunergy’s garage in Boone, Hunter Bristow, right, sands a door for the car. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy Operations Director Kali Smith sands a car door in Team Sunergy’s Boone garage. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team member Brandon Schwartz preloads shocks for the car. Determining the preload amount requires extensive mathematical calculations based on the weight of the car and what sort of performance is desired from the car, according to Dan Blakeley, Team Sunergy’s executive faculty director. The calculations involved aren’t taught in classes, Blakeley said — one needs to be self-taught. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Hunter Bristow, a member of Team Sunergy’s electrical team, sands a car door. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy Assistant Mechanical Director Wyatt Bailey sands a hole in one of ROSE’s chairs, which will be used for a seat belt. The American Solar Challenge regulations require all solar cars to be equipped with a minimum of a five-point lap and shoulder belt harness system for each occupant. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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The newly named ROSE (Racing on Solar Energy) returns from VX Aerospace to Team Sunergy’s garage in Boone. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy members unload ROSE from the truck. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team member Henry Plaskonos crouches on the floor of the Boone garage, spotting for placement as the other members set ROSE on blocks. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy member Jon Ricker. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Kali Smith, left, removes splinters from Lucas Tax’s hands. Splinters are a common casualty when dealing with carbon fiber, she said. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Sitting on the cart pictured in the bottom, left-hand corner is a large portion of the car’s front suspension. The suspension was designed from scratch by Cody Waters using modeling software. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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A pickup plate is installed on the chassis. This is where the car’s suspension will be mounted. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Michael Hughes, right, electronics technician with Appalachian’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, serves Team Sunergy as a jack-of-all-trades, helping to fix and design equipment. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Milling bits and other tools used to machine parts. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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A three-axis CNC (computer numerical control) milling machine used by the team for machining metal parts. The machine uses a computer to electronically control the motion of the machine. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy member Cody Waters holds a part that was not machined properly. As shown here, the tooling path exceeded the part’s left and right edges. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Cody Waters displays a pickup plate that he designed from scratch. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Mike Montalvo, right, from Team Sunergy’s mechanical team, looks on as Cody Waters fits the A-arm to upright of the suspension. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy member Cody Waters, in foreground, press-fits a spherical bearing into A-arm for the car’s suspension as Mike Montalvo looks on. An A-arm is part of a vehicle's suspension that consists of two rods in the shape of a letter A. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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James Furr saws the steering column for the car to the correct size. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy member Halle Küttel uses Bondo to fill in cracks and smooth the car to prepare it for painting. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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VX CEO Robert Skillen said working with the team was a very positive experience. “We enjoy working with kids. We worked with NC State and USC (University of South Carolina) and now App State. It was our first foray into coaching non-engineering students.

“This team came in with open minds, eager and hardworking. They have a positive attitude and are committed to this project. It’s apparent they are not doing it because they have to, but because it is a passion.”

Skillen also said there is definitely a place for nonengineers in a highly technical business like his. “I am drawing parts for the trucking industry now. They could fit right into that work. There are lots of opportunities. You don’t have to be a schooled engineer to participate in the composite industry.”

Racing on Solar Energy — ROSE's racing team
Racing on Solar Energy — ROSE's racing team
June 22, 2018

Meet Team Sunergy’s 2018 crew taking Appalachian State University’s solar car ROSE (Racing on Solar Energy) to international competitions this summer.

Meet the team

More than racing — it’s about the team

Early in the process, Blakeley defined Team Sunergy this way: Sun, energy, plus synergy equals Team Sunergy. “That explains us perfectly, because we have multiple majors from all over campus working towards one common goal.”

Team members brought special talents and interests to the team:

  • Cody Waters, a recent graduate from Appalachian’s engineering physics master’s program, set out to design all of the suspension components for the car, from scratch, in a highly specialized software program produced by the company SolidWorks — one of the top sponsors for the team. The suspension is a highly critical part on the car that he had to design without any experience, and he got to see the process through designing, machining, installing and testing.
  • Carlos Núñez García came to America after his wife accepted a one-year teaching position at Appalachian. He quickly joined Team Sunergy and was responsible for creating the printed circuit board for the vehicle, which serves as the brain of the car. He also assisted with the manufacturing of the carbon fiber body of the car. García returned to Spain in May.
  • John Lalevee, a rising senior and industrial design major with a concentration in furniture design, began designing the body of the car just weeks after joining the team. Smith said Lalevee jumped into the role “with a fervor and learned the modeling software, Solidworks, so quickly that no one on the team was able to keep up.” Lalevee also designed the wrap on the car.
  • Bree Hensley, a sophomore nutrition and foods major at Appalachian, joined the team to make a complete nutritional plan for the American Solar Challenge, to ensure that each team member had the proper intake each day to perform at peak capacity. As a former English major, she is one of the main social media coordinators for the team.

And behind the student team is, indeed, a village. In addition to VX Aerospace, which provided space, labor and mentoring, professors on campus and university leadership were also helpful. Smith was quick to say so many people touched this project that it is impossible to credit them all. Some of the players:

  • Chancellor Sheri Everts has been a champion from the start, praising the team in 2016 for “work that represents the bold, confident and pioneering attitude that so perfectly represents our campus and its vision to build a brighter future.”
  • Team Sunergy falls under the auspices of Appalachian’s Office of Sustainability, and Ball has been an advocate in a number of areas, introducing the team to key resources and traveling with team for competitions. Additionally, his office has provided administrative support including on-campus space for students.
  • Senior Lecturer and Team Advisor Brad Johnson, Dana H. Greene, machine shop supervisor, and Mike Hughes, electronic technician, all from Appalachian’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, helped with machining and calibrating the vehicle’s suspension.
  • Johnson, Ferrell and Dr. Brian Raichle, professor in and chair of Appalachian’s Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment, act as faculty advisors.
  • The university’s Office of General Counsel, Division of Business Affairs, University Purchasing, Physical Plant and Motor Pool have all provided guidance, labor and support in their areas of expertise.

The team is ready, Blakeley said. Like those who blazed the Oregon Trail more than 150 years ago, they are, indeed, pioneers, discovering sustainable solutions for tomorrow’s travelers.

Dan Blakeley, Linda Coutant, Megan Hayes, Alex Jansen, Chase Reynolds, Kali Smith, Jessica Stump and Derek Wycoff contributed to this story.

*As of January 2018, Team Sunergy, Appalachian State University’s lauded solar vehicle team, has offset their carbon footprint thanks to a donation of 58 metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions by Sterling Planet, the sustainable energy solutions provider, and General Motors. The offsets provided were created through GM’s EV (electric vehicle) Chargepoint and EverCharge charging programs, and solar generation at their Global Technical Center. Sterling Planet calculated and confirmed the volume.

Support Team Sunergy
Support Team Sunergy

Want to support Team Sunergy? You can join this incredible winning team and help Appalachian students in their race toward the future of transportation.

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Awards and accolades
  • 3rd place — 2016 Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP)
  • 6th place — 2016 American Solar Challenge
  • 2nd place — FSGP 2017
  • Safety Award — FSGP 2017
  • Fastest Egress Award — FSGP 2017
  • Array Award — FSGP 2017
  • ISF Achievement Award (2017), awarded by ISF (International Solarcar Federation) to the team “that best exemplifies the mission of ISF by raising awareness of the imperatives of sustainable transport through innovation, and promoting the concept of ‘Brain Sport.’
  • Ranked 7th in the world of solar racing by ISF
Appalachian’s Solar Vehicle Team selects winning name for Cruiser Class car
Appalachian’s Solar Vehicle Team selects winning name for Cruiser Class car
May 9, 2018

Team Sunergy, Appalachian State University’s student-run solar vehicle team, chooses ROSE for the name of its new Cruiser Class solar car. ROSE stands for Racing on Solar Energy.

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Furniture design student puts knowledge to practice with Appalachian’s solar vehicle team
Furniture design student puts knowledge to practice with Appalachian’s solar vehicle team
May 30, 2018

John Lalevee had the opportunity to fulfill a childhood dream by designing the body of Appalachian’s newest solar vehicle, ROSE.

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Appalachian State solar vehicle places second in international track race
Appalachian State solar vehicle places second in international track race
July 9, 2017

Solar-powered Appalachian’s Team Sunergy took second place at the 2017 Formula Sun Grand Prix after hundreds of hours of preparation and three days of intense strategy and track racing. The annual race, which took place this year on the Circuit of The Americas track in Austin, Texas, is an international collegiate endurance competition that sets the standards for and tests the limits of solar vehicle technology.

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Appalachian’s solar vehicle team places third in the Formula Sun Grand Prix
Appalachian’s solar vehicle team places third in the Formula Sun Grand Prix
July 28, 2016

Appalachian State University’s solar vehicle team, Team Sunergy, has taken third place in the Formula Sun Grand Prix at the Pittsburgh International Race Complex in Wampum, Pennsylvania. Under heavy cloud cover and some rain, the team completed the race on July 28 with a total of 414 laps.

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Racing the Sun
Racing the Sun

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

Aug. 17, 2016

Take a dozen Appalachian students, three passionate faculty and an institutional commitment to sustainability and 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. And, you get a roadmap to the car of the future.

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Appalachian’s Solar Vehicle Team gets ready to race
Appalachian’s Solar Vehicle Team gets ready to race
April 17, 2015

Appalachian State University’s solar vehicle team prepares a solar-powered race car for competition in 2016.

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Team Sunergy
Team Sunergy

Team Sunergy is made up of graduate and undergraduate students at Appalachian State University. Since 2013, the team has sought to represent North Carolina and Appalachian State's commitment to sustainable energy initiatives at international solar vehicle competitions.

Learn more
Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment
Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment

This department features integrated programs spanning the fields of sustainable design and technology. It has a strong reputation for innovative research and sustainable development in the areas of construction and building science, renewable energy and other sustainable technologies.

Learn more

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 Sustainability at Appalachian

Appalachian State University’s leadership in sustainability is known nationally. The university’s holistic, three-branched approach considers sustainability economically, environmentally and equitably in relationship to the planet’s co-inhabitants. The university is an active steward of the state’s interconnected financial, cultural and natural resources and challenges students and others think critically and creatively about sustainability and what it means from the smallest individual action to the most broad-based applications. The university offers both undergraduate and graduate academic degree programs that focus on sustainability. In addition, 100 percent of Appalachian’s academic departments offer at least one sustainability course or course that includes sustainability, and all students graduate from programs that have adopted at least one sustainability learning outcome. Learn more at https://appstate.edu/sustainability.

About the Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment

One of seven departments housed in the College of Fine and Applied Arts, the Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment at Appalachian State University features an integrated array of programs spanning the fields of sustainable design and technology. Its mission is to foster a strong and vibrant culture of inquiry, discovery and innovation that integrates theory with application, problem seeking with problem-solving, local issues with global perspectives and technological progress with environmental stewardship. It offers bachelor’s degrees in sustainable technology and building science, and a master’s degree in technology. Learn more at https://stbe.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.

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Anatomy of a ROSE

It took vision, collaboration, scholarly research and Mountaineer ingenuity to build ROSE. ROSE is made from infused carbon fiber, an extremely light material that does not sacrifice strength. It features seating for two, conventionally opening doors, a set of instrument gauges for fuel, speed and other information, turn signals and — an amenity the team is particularly excited about — cup holders.

ROSE charges from its solar array as well as by traditional electric vehicle wall-charging ports. The car can reach speeds up to 75 miles per hour.

ROSE specs:

Designed and built entirely in-house by student team members, ROSE is Team Sunergy’s first Cruiser Class entry and second solar vehicle to date. ROSE will be a four-wheeled, two-passenger vehicle capable of charging its batteries from its array, as well as by traditional electric vehicle wall-charging ports. Engineered for racing, ROSE also satisfies safety, accessibility and utility requirements, featuring an electronic dashboard, speakers, cup holders, cargo space and — of course — a passenger seat.

Mechanical specs:
  • Body and chassis: carbon fiber aeroshell with lightweight, honeycomb chassis.
  • Suspension: double wishbone suspension.
  • Brakes: double redundant hydraulic braking system, regenerative braking system.
  • Tires: Bridgestone ECOPIA with ologic technology solar car tires.
  • Roll cage: 1” OD 4130 chromoly.
  • Safety:
    • Five-point harness on both driver and passenger seats.
    • Aluminum honeycomb impact attenuator crush zones.
    • Drape-formed polycarbonate windshield.
Performance stats:
  • Top speed: 75 mph.
  • Range: 300 miles on a single charge (no solar input).
  • Charge time (0–90% state of charge): four hours from level 1 charging station, one hour from level 2.
  • Peak cruising speed: 55 mph.
Features:
  • Two seats.
  • Spacious interior.
  • Two cup holders.
  • 7” HD digital dashboard.
  • Dedicated cargo area.
Electrical specs:
  • 900 lithium-Ion 18650 batteries with 13.2 kWh capacity, max power output of 11 kW (or voltage range, amps, etc.).
  • 326 SunPower monocrystalline solar cells with a max power output of 1,250 W.
  • 2x Mitsuba 3-phase PMAC brushless, high-efficiency electric motors with a combined 13.4 horsepower and 50 ft-lbs of torque.
Team Sunergy sponsors and donors

Behind Appalachian State University’s student-run solar car team, Team Sunergy, is a village stepping up to help change the face of transportation.

Listed below are the university and business sponsors and donors who made a difference as the team designed and built its 2018 Cruiser Class vehicle, ROSE (Racing on Solar Energy).

University sponsors

Office of the Chancellor
Sustain Appalachian — Office of Sustainability

Adviser: Lee Ball

The Office of Sustainability has aided team Sunergy in numerous ways, including providing an office space, aiding in acquiring funds and purchasing products, human resources and advocating on behalf of the team across campus and the state.

College of Fine and Applied Arts — Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment

Advisers: Dan Blakeley, Jeremy Ferrell, Chris Tolbert, Brian Raichle

College of Arts and Sciences — Department of Physics and Astronomy

Adviser: Brad Johnson

The Department of Physics and Astronomy allowed the team to use its machine shop, under the guidance of Mike Hughes and Dana Greene. Hughes and Greene helped build all of the suspension components of the team’s two cars — ROSE and Apperion.

Mechanical systems sponsors

VX Aerospace

VX Aerospace aided in designing the molds of ROSE and assisted in the carbon fiber infusion process, as well as providing technical advice and expertise on finishing car touches.

The following individuals from VX personally assisted the team: Corina Cojocaru, Keith Taylor, Bob Skillen and Blin Richards.

MOBS Fab

Manufacturer of ROSE’s roll cage.

Compmillennia

Donated two carbon fiber race seats to be used in ROSE.

Bridgestone

Provided three sets (12 total) of ECOPIA with ologic technology solar car tires.

Software sponsors

Mathworks

Used for mathematical analysis through programming for ROSE’s suspension.

SolidWorks

3D modeling, stress analysis and computer-aided flow design.

Altium

Used to design ROSE’s printed circuit board (PCB) — the brain of the car.

Electrical systems sponsors

Appalachian State Renewable Energy Initiative (ASUREI)

Sponsored the purchase of most of ROSE’s electrical components.

Vicor

Lifetime sponsor of any power converters (DC/DC) necessary to build ROSE.

VRUZEND

Micah Toll, owner of VRUZEND, provided technical expertise on batteries and battery assembly while providing all the battery caps for ROSE’s car battery.

Newark element14

Provided various electrical components used in ROSE at discounted rates or at no cost to the team.

Mitsuba Corporation

Manufacturer of ROSE’s electric motors.

Nomura Co.

Provided discounts for solar car parts.

Other sponsors

Action Sign Creative

Responsible for the vinyl wrapping on Team Sunergy’s cars — Apperion and ROSE — and the vehicles’ transportation trailer.

Steeby Solarcar Scholarship

Main donors are Jane McCoy and Ruby Hughes, and the scholarship has provided nine student scholarships for members of Appalachian’s solar vehicle team.

CommScope

Provided financial support to Team Sunergy in the form of a scholarship awarded to team member Diego Lewis, who completed an internship with the company.

Goodnight Brothers Country Ham

Provided financial support to Team Sunergy.

Bissell Family Foundation

Provided financial support to Team Sunergy.

View larger image
Awards and accolades
  • 3rd place — 2016 Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP)
  • 6th place — 2016 American Solar Challenge
  • 2nd place — FSGP 2017
  • Safety Award — FSGP 2017
  • Fastest Egress Award — FSGP 2017
  • Array Award — FSGP 2017
  • ISF Achievement Award (2017), awarded by ISF (International Solarcar Federation) to the team “that best exemplifies the mission of ISF by raising awareness of the imperatives of sustainable transport through innovation, and promoting the concept of ‘Brain Sport.’
  • Ranked 7th in the world of solar racing by ISF
Support Team Sunergy
Support Team Sunergy

Want to support Team Sunergy? You can join this incredible winning team and help Appalachian students in their race toward the future of transportation.

Donate now

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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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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
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