Our Cars

Our first solar car we started designing in September 2012. This was to enter the cruiser class of the BWSC for 2015 and was a workhorse boasting two Kelly 6kW hub motors. After fitting two MGB seats and with major modifications to the brake system the car was powered using 6KWh LiFePO4 battery. This gave us a drivable electric car. The car was completed, after an intensive summer build programme in September 2015 and thus began our journey into solar cars. Ardingly College was the first school in Europe to have designed, built and raced a car in this highly prestigious event. This challenge is quite daunting with a distance of 3000km. The first car was treasure trove of information and technicalities which greatly helped us design our second car.

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The Roadster

The Second solar car otherwise known as the ‘Basking Beastie’ is a lightweight two seater cruiser class vehicle. The frame is built of chromoly steel because of its weight to strength benefits. This allowed a very safety cage to be built. The frame is encapsulated by a full carbon fibre body using revolutionary highly cost-effective moulding technique. The two hull design gives a relatively small frontal area and the pear drop design gives a very low drag coefficient. The Solar cells 5M2 were supplied by Solbian encapsulating the very latest SunPower cells (nominally 23% efficient). The car is powered by two Mitusba 6KW hub motors 95% efficient, specifically made for the car. The Power pack is a proprietary designed 16kWh battery based on the Lithium Ion cell 18650.

The Basking Beastie

The Solar Utility Vehicle

The SUV is designed as an educational tool and is designed for the developing world to provide a green transport solution whilst also providing off grid electricity for a home, medical centre or small school. The car is also designed to be used off grid with a maximum speed of 100km/h and a range of 100km on one charge. The car is powered by two 6kW hub motors and is equipped with a 10kWh modular battery based on the lithium ion 18650 cell. The car has 3M2 of solar cells which are extendable when parked to 6M2. The car is designed using standard parts and is based on the Peugeot 206 frame. The design of this car is 80% complete and manufacture will hopefully start this September.