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For Jessica Durham, her first year at Dalhousie University's Faculty of Engineering was nothing short of a solar experience. It began with a bold decision to join Dalhousie Engineering’s Solar Car Team, and ended on a racetrack in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Design teams, such as Dal Solar Car provide students with valuable hands-on experiences that bridge classroom learning with practical application. These teams allow students to engage in real-world engineering challenges that foster teamwork, problem solving and innovation.

“At the beginning of last year, I went on a campus tour of Studley and Sexton, and I saw the electric car and solar car through the garage shop window. I didn’t realize these kinds of opportunities were available to first year students,” recalls Jessica. “So, I started following a few engineering design teams on social media. I even filled out an application to join the FSAE team, but I was too nervous to go to the meeting.”

By January however, she’d found the confidence to attend her first meeting on the solar car team. Seven months later, she was cheering on her teammates as they competed against 32 other university teams from around North America at the Formula Sun Grand Prix.

Team Triumphs

A relatively new group in the Faculty of Engineering, the DalSol was formed in 2021. By 2023, they made regional headlines as the first team in Atlantic Canada to build a solar car. Weighing 270 kilograms and reaching speeds up to 65 kilometers per hour, the car runs on solar power, converting sunlight into electrical energy to charge its battery and motor controller.

Despite being newcomers to the solar racing scene, the Dal team earned an impressive 4th place finish in the Single-Occupant Vehicle class at the 2023 Formula Sun Grand Prix, along with the Best New Team Scrutineering award. With that success under their belts, this year’s team headed back to competition, this time in Kentucky.

The Formula Sun Grand Prix is an annual three-day event where university teams race their solar cars on closed circuits. This summer’s race, held at the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park, challenged the teams to complete as many laps as possible using only solar energy. For Jessica and her teammates, the experience was more than just the opportunity to test their car’s limits. It was a chance to network with competitors from leading universities around North America and learn more about the future of solar powered energy.

“It was really interesting to engage with teams from the US Universities that I would otherwise never meet,” she says.

Race Hurdles

Before the big race can start, solar cars need to first pass the scrutineering process. This involves a series of vehicle inspections and checks to ensure everything is functioning properly and meets regulations. During this phase, cars undergo thorough safety, mechanical, and electrical tests. Dalhousie placed second out of the 32 teams in scrutineering.

"Our team lead, Noah, drove the car first, but as the race started, the BPS (Battery Protection System) tripped and shut off the car," explains Jessica, remembering the scramble to fix the issue. After some troubleshooting, they were back on track.

On day three, she found herself front and centre in middle of the action, serving as corner authority, tasked with monitoring a section of the track.

"I was standing at my corner, and then suddenly there was a pile-up. MIT, Principia, and Montana State were all stopped on the track. I had to radio in, and we got the red flags out to stop the race."

Despite the chaos, Jessica says the experience was surreal and an incredible way to end her first year of engineering. Looking back, she says she’s amazed by how much she learned throughout the journey, not just about solar cars, but about teamwork and communication.

"I learned so much about the cars electrical system," she says. "There’s a lot of components that go into the car to make it drive, so I took a lot of notes."

She credits the upper-year students with mentoring her and other new members on the team, and often forgets why she felt so reluctant to join the team in the first place.

"They want you to learn, they want to help you out," she says. One of her teammates, a year ahead of her in the program, even turned out to be a fellow graduate of Jessica’s old high school, adding a special connection to her experience.

Future Focus

Now in her second year of engineering and officially enrolled in the electrical engineering program, Jessica is eager to dive deeper into the design team.

“I am looking forward to my new positions on the team as fundraising lead and internal relations, as well as my original role as electrical support,” she says.

She explains that it’s an exciting time for new students to join, as the team will be designing and building an entirely new solar car from the ground up this year.

"You just have to do it," she says, advising first year students why they should consider joining one of Dal Engineering’s student design teams. "Go introduce yourself, make connections. We’re a welcoming group, and once you’re in, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner."