University of Michigan Solar Car Team to race across 12 states

10-day race starting July 23

The Aevum solar car in the University of Michigan Big House stadium. (Liana Lau, Solar Car Team, University of Michigan)

ANN ARBOR – Members of the University of Michigan Solar Car Team will be racing their newest vehicle, Aevum, across the country starting on Saturday.

Its greenest car yet, Aevum was unveiled earlier this summer.

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“Equipped with a novel sensor suite, Aevum is the smartest car the team has ever built,” reads a team press release. “Whether it is battery performance, aerodynamic drag, or array efficiency, Aevum can be readily optimized on race. Do not allow its outwards size to deceive you; Aevum achieves all of the above without significant sacrifices to weight when compared to our 2019 vehicle, Electrum.”

The Michigan Sun Run is a 10-day race that will span 3,000 miles across 12 states.

Michigan Sun Run graphic. (University of Michigan Solar Car Team)

The 20-member team will start racing from Princeton, New Jersey and make stops in Kansas City, Missouri, Albuquerque, New Mexico before finishing in Los Angeles, California.

“As the longest endurance race the team has ever faced, its outcomes will inform the design and production of our future vehicles,” reads a team release.

Every two years, the team designs, builds and races a new solar car and members of the team come from more than 15 majors across the university. The team has previously raced in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, the American Solar Challenge and the Abu Dhabi Solar Challenge.