From the 18th- 25th of October, the World Solar Challenge took place in Australia 47 teams participating from 25 countries. In the qualification ahead of the race, the Punch One achieved the 4th position to start the race. From the start it was clear the solar car from the students of the Leuven University was a team that would battle for the podium, maybe even for victory! After a long first day of exciting racing and 632 km the team finished 5th position after being up in to 2nd place during the day.
The differences amongst the top 5 teams was very small this year. After the challenging 3022 km race the difference between the winner (Nuon Solar Team from TU Delft) and number five (Punch One from the Punch Powertrain Solar Team by the KU Leuven) was less than 1 hour and 23 minutes. This is a much smaller gap to the winner compared to the previous World Solar Challenge, when the Belgian team was still 7 hours behind the winners.
The detailed Analysis of achieved vehicle speeds and energy consumption values showed how close the Punch Powertrain Solar Team was to victory. However, the strong competition from the Netherlands, Japan and the USA did not allow any room for errors or misfortune. Unfortunately, the Punch One team suffered a 1 hour penalty due to a so called dangerous manoeuver from a press vehicle of the Belgian team and some small repairs that also took about an hour.
The technical progress made by the 2015 Punch Powertrain Solar Team and the lessons learned during the race provide an the next team with the necessary foundations to really end up on the podium in the next World Solar Challenge in 2017.
