ITU ZES Solar Car Team is in Third Place in Europe

Our ITU ZES Solar Car Team made our country proud by making it to the top three in the iLumen European Solar Challenge 2022 in Belgium.

Istanbul Technical University (ITU) has added a new one to the awards won by student project teams one after the other. The iLumen European Solar Challenge 2022 (iESC 2022), considered one of the most challenging competitions in its field, was held in Belgium on 17-18 September 2022 this year. ITU ZES Solar Car Team was awarded the third place in the “24 Hours Stage” of this international competition in which it represented our country.

The third team with the most laps in the competition

Competing with its vehicle called ARIBA ZES X, ITU ZES Solar Car Team made 257 laps in 24 hours and became the third team with the most laps in the competition. Commenting on the success of the team, team advisor Asst. Prof. Dr. Alper Tolga Çalık stated that they prepared for the competition with great devotion and discipline and said that this success is the reward for their great effort. Reminding the grand prepatory tour they took on the route that started from Istanbul and continued through Bursa, Eskişehir, Konya, and Ankara before the competition, Dr. Çalık told about what happened before and during the European Solar Car Competition as follows: “This grand tour we took with ‘ARIBA ZES X’ before the competition in order to give the next generations the message that a better world is possible was a good test and source of motivation for us. We believe that this tour played a significant role in our success in the European Solar Car Competition. We experienced the privilege of being from ITU. We would like to thank our team for making our university proud and all our supporters, especially our Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu, who did not leave our team alone on this path and believed in us.”

It was noted that ITU ZES Solar Car Team aims to return with a degree from the prestigious Australian Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC 2023) competition in the solar powered vehicles category in 2023.