Hello! As CalSol's new Team Lead I am very excited about the next generation of the UC Berkeley Solar Car Team. Building on our experience at Formula Sun Grand Prix we have critiqued every aspect of our car and are geared up to design something even better. With almost twenty returning members we have much more experience than last year's team.

We are also very excited about the enthusiasm of the new members. Between our newly established Business Team and strong interest in both our Mechanical and Electrical sections, CalSol membership has more than doubled. During last months introductions we taught new members SolidWorks, electrical circuits, programming, and general solar car design. The training sessions and labs were designed to make sure that every member is up to speed before we begin complex design and detailed problem solving. They picked up these skills quickly and we are now moving fully into the design of CalSol's new solar car.

The team will have a preliminary design of the car complete by winter break and the design will be finalized by April of 2010.

I'd like to thank Lockheed Martin for their continued contributions to CalSol. This year is a critical time for sponsorship because we need to replace old components (like the motor and solar cells) that have been reused for far too many years. Thank you very much to Dr. Jim Ryder and Dr. Ab Hashemi for our enjoyable meeting about the future of CalSol.

posted by Chris Cartland

Following our great experience at the Formula Sun race, CalSol has spent most of the summer planning its direction for the next year and future vehicles. Now a new semester is beginning. Some of our members have graduated (notably the wonderful and skilled Ed Divita) and we look for fresh new faces.

Our first general meeting for new members is scheduled for Wednesday September 2nd at 6PM in 6153 Etcheverry. Stop on by if you're interested in joining or learning more about the team. We'll be showing the car tomorrow at 12:30 for the Engineering Orientation in front of O'Brien Hall. We'll also have people around for various other events on campus during the first few weeks on campus. See you soon!

posted by Jimmy Hack

A quick update: Next week CalSol will be displaying GoldRush at the Marin County Fair as part of the Electric Wheels Car Show. Feel free to stop by the show and check out all the amazing vehicles that will be on display!

posted by Ed Divita

On Monday, CalSol's trip came to a close. With GoldRush safely home, it is time to reflect on the journey that we embarked on. (Click here to see photos of the race).

First and foremost, we would like to thank our sponsors for their monetary and material support, without which CalSol would not exist. Secondly, thank you to all the team members who have toiled for many months, surrendering your free time, sleep, and grades to finish the car in time for Formula Sun. Lastly, thank you to all our families who have seen very little of us because we were "working on the solar car".

While engineers are obsessed with performance and numbers, I think it diminishes the accomplishments of this team to dwell on the numerical results of the race. Yes, it's true, we finished 9th out of 9 qualifying teams, with only 67 laps compared to Minnesota's 487, but that doesn't tell the whole story. The most amazing part of our race occurred before we even entered the track for the first time.

When we arrived in Texas, we had what we thought was a nearly complete car, needing only a few finishing touches on the electrical system before we would pass scrutineering. The electrical team focused its attention on the Battery Protection System, a critical system that monitors our lithium ion batteries for conditions that could damage them or start a fire. However, after 2 days of working on it nonstop, we decided that there were fundamental design flaws that would prevent it from working no matter how many microchips we replaced, how much soldering we did, or how much code we wrote. While less dedicated and resourceful teams would have called it quits and packed up, CalSol was determined to get out on the track and race.

Berkeley engineers may be criticized as "theoretical" and "not practical", but there wasn't any theory that would get us out onto the track. As we wrote earlier, after the race had already begun, we decided to switch to lead acid batteries, a much simpler chemistry, but also much heavier and with less capacity. Within a few hours, we had located a distributor of suitable batteries, planned the mechanical changes needed to accommodate the extra volume and weight, and mapped out the necessary electrical rewiring. By Thursday morning, we had debunked the myth and passed the remaining scrutineering tests.

And so every one of those 67 laps was a triumphant reminder of what we as Berkeley engineers are capable of accomplishing in spite of the most challenging circumstances.

Go Bears!

Our next public appearance will be at the Marin County Fair on July 1-5. Come out and see GoldRush as a part of the Electric Wheels Car Show!

posted by Matthew Farrell

CalSol began the last day of the race looking forward to 10 hours of racing, but unfortunately we were unable to begin with the other teams due to some mechanical problems from Thursday's racing, and also our brake lights stopped working. By 10:30 AM we had fixed the problems, tuned the suspension, and demonstrated to the scrutineers that our car was solid and safe. We quickly discovered that retuning the suspension improved our handling and made the drivers more comfortable on the numerous sharp corners on the track. After a couple of hours of racing, our driver came in to report hearing strange sounds coming from the motor. It took a while, but we finally determined to our relief that our motor was fine and that a bad wheel rim was to blame for the sound. With a replacement wheel on the car, we sent our drivers back out for the last 2 hours of the race.

Unlike the other teams who had drained their batteries after 3 days of racing, we had a relatively full pack, so we were able to finish the race very strong, lapping most other teams several times near the end. Everyone, from the race officials and corner flagmen to the other teams, was very supportive and flashed us thumbs up as we passed by. It has been touching to experience the camaraderie that the teams share, and we would again like to thank all the teams for giving us advice, loaning us tools and materials, and cheering us on as we made progress.

posted by Matthew Farrell

Hi ya'll. We are on the track and raycing!

posted by Henry Lam

CalSol stayed up all night working on the car. We made a lot of progress on the electrical system although the continuous rain, thunder and lightning plus a brief tornado watch forced us to pack up our camp and delayed our progress. Despite coping with extreme winds and flooded tents throughout the night, our electrical team was able to resolve a communication error in our electrical system. Unfortunately, other hardware errors still persisted.

Sleep deprived and battered by the weather, ultimately the team decided that our untested battery protection system was not yet ready to cope with the bumps and bruises of an extended track race. After two sleepless nights our electrical team made the heartbreaking decision to pack up their tools and get some much needed rest. When the checkered flag dropped this morning we were not among the six teams that started racing.

The good news is that the race organizers have informed us that they will consider letting us join the race if we can finish the battery protection system and pass dynamic testing. However, even if our electrical problems prove insurmountable we still plan to continue to observe the race and learn from the other solar car teams and expert scrutineers.

Finally, and most importantly, we would like to thank all of our sponsors, the University, our friends and family for their support. Without all of them we could never have made it this far.

posted by Ed Divita

CalSol is in the middle of scrutineering. We have passed mechanical and basic vehicle inspections but we still have to pass electrical and dynamic tests.

Labels: Formula Sun Grand Prix 2009

posted by Chris Cartland

After driving 1700 miles the CalSol team has arrived at the Cresson Motorsport Ranch. The team has been working hard for long hours over the past few weeks in anticipation for the race. In these final hours before scrutineering for the race begins we are continuing the work on the car. 11 teams have come from across the United States and Canada to compete and learn from one another. It's fun to take a look at the other teams who have also come out for the event. We'll post some pictures later (when we have a more stable internet connection). Wish us luck!

posted by Jimmy Hack

After two days of driving our team has entered the state of Texas. We will be spending the night in Odessa and will be arriving in Dallas by tomorrow.

Spirits are high as we prepare for the upcoming race.

posted by Robert Irwin

Friday, 7:30 am: The journey to Texas has begun,

CalSol left Berkeley this morning for a three day drive to Cresson, Texas. We are excited to see what GoldRush can do at the Texas Motor Sport Ranch. Today we hope to cruise through California and spend the night in Phoenix, Arizona.

Updates will continue to be posted on this page.
Go Bears!

Friday, 4:30 pm: We are currently passing through California's Mojave Desert.

Friday, 11:59 pm: As our first day on the road comes to a close, we are nearing Phoenix, Arizona and will be stopping there for the night.

Labels: Formula Sun Grand Prix 2009

posted by Chris Cartland

With finals and the spring semester behind us, and the summer ahead, CalSol has focused its full attention on completing the car. On May 29th, the intrepid members of CalSol will load our newly finished and newly named solar car, GoldRush, into our (t)rusty trailer and head to Texas to participate in the 2009 Formula Sun Grand Prix track race. We hope that this will be the first of several updates before, during and after the "rayce".

A special thanks to Training-Classes.com for their continued support of CalSol. Learn more about careers in Solar Energy with their Solar Power Training.

Also, we thank and welcome our newest sponsor, DASolar.com. Visit their website to learn more about solar panels and solar panel installation.

posted by Matthew Farrell

The CalSol team had a lot of fun in Santa Cruz showing the car to local high school students and others interested in solar technology. We spent Friday and Saturday at Soquel High School in Santa Cruz and did a quick talk on the KSCO AM 1080 radio station. You can read about the event in the Santa Cruz Sentinel and as always we have some pictures uploaded in our photo section. A big thank you to Judy Wilken of StarchildScience.org for organizing the event. Thank you for all of the hard work it took to make this event possible.

posted by Jimmy Hack

Thanks to everyone who made the hike up to Etcheverry Hall on Cal Day to check out the new car! It's always fun when we get to show off our hard work, and everyone on our team was excited by the large turnout and interest in our project. I'd also like to give a shout out to the several CalSol alumni who came over and chatted with us, thanks for stopping by!

If you didn't get a chance to see our car on Cal Day we will be displaying it again this coming weekend at Soquel High School in Santa Cruz. The team will be presenting the new car to local high school students as part of a program to promote interest in sustainability, science, and engineering in public schools. Check out the event's flier for more details.

Labels: Cal Day, Santa Cruz

posted by Ed Divita

CalSol thanks Distance-Education.org, provider of information on online and other distance education programs, for their support of the team as a sponsor. Remember to check out their website and those of our other sponsors to see the organizations and companies which have helped our team to succeed.

As you can tell from our last few news posts, CalSol is excited for the opportunity to show our car at Cal Day this Saturday. We will be displaying the car on the breezeway between Etcheverry and Soda Hall. If you're in Berkeley for Cal Day come by and check us out.

posted by Jimmy Hack

posted by Ed Divita

CalSol went out to the RFS all through spring break to work on the car. The team worked on getting the car ready for presenting this year at Cal Day. We worked on attaching the shell to the chassis snugly and designing a new brake pedal. Once the shell attachment is finalized we will attach the solar cells. As you can see, our trailer was getting a bit rusty so we sanded it down and worked on a new coat of paint.

The team also has a new website layout. I hope you enjoy it.

posted by Jimmy Hack

posted by CalSol member

The CalSol team wishes to thank our newest sponsor, Solar Sphere (http://www.spheralsolar.com), distrubutor of solar products and information on solar technologies. To view a list of our current sponsors and to learn about becoming a CalSol sponsor please visit our Sponsorship page. Thank you for your continued support!

posted by Jimmy Hack

This weekend CalSol took the car out for a test drive. The mechanical framework -the chassis, steering, brakes and suspension are all operational. So we hooked up some lead acid batteries to the motor and took it for a spin. It cornered surprisingly well on our practice slalom course, and the front suspension reacted smoothly to bumps. This week we'll finetune the brakes and rear suspension and add more driver controls. The car is working well off of batteries- we need to finish work on the electrical components before we can attach the solar cells. Calsol is planning to race in the Formula Sun Grand Prix this June, although it doesn't look like we have the means to participate in this year's World Solar Challenge in Australia.

posted by Jimmy Hack