At first glance, the RED X resembles its predecessor, the RED Horizon. What is immediately striking is that the shape – ‘monohull’ or ‘bullet shape’ – is almost identical. However, the team has made several changes to the new solar car.

Monohull
‘Last year we built a monohull for the first time and it was great,’ says lead engineer Jessica Bose. ‘Especially in the aerodynamic area, there are many advantages to be gained from this, so we chose to further develop it. As the previous team designed a good monohull, this year there are differences in small details. But make no mistake, because there’s a lot to be gained there too.

The team is yet to explain the exact changes. During the presentation, the audience was faced with several design challenges. They are about making choices and compromises. For example, one of the supporting arrays attaches importance to the largest possible surface area of ​​the solar panel. This generates a lot of income, so the energy is available to drive the solar car. On the other hand, other team members dealing with aerodynamic design ensure that the shape is as efficient as possible and that no unnecessary energy is lost. A large panel size actually makes it more difficult to achieve their goal. In the RED X, all of these confounds have been weighed and factored into the design.

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Team Manager Kirsten Bowman explained what RED X means to the team: “This is definitely the tenth edition of Solar Team Twentieth, the tenth year that a group of motivated students are committed to innovating in the field of sustainable mobility. . The X symbolizes the four departments within our team that, despite all challenges, remain united at a focal point. Everything delivered by the team today is with our goal in mind. Solar Team Twente’s tenth solar car to finish as number one in the tenth month of the year. We’re going to do that with the RED X.