CalSol - The UC Berkeley Solar Vehicle Team

We are a team of almost 100 passionate Berkeley undergraduate students who design, build, and race high-speed, street-legal solar vehicles. We have built 8 generations of racing vehicles, developing and enhancing our designs with each iteration. Each one is built nearly entirely by our students, from scratch; the knowledge and experience gained is unparalleled. Our last car, Zephyr, has had a long and successful career, placing first at our 2017 race and second at one of our 2018 races. In July, we drove it more than 1,700 miles from Omaha, Nebraska to Bend, Oregon using 100% solar power. Our team welcomes all interested students and is home to a variety of majors across the University. We provide unparalleled hands-on experience in engineering, project management, supply chain interactions, teamwork, problem-solving, and more. Can you make a gift to support CalSol today?

With our next generation vehicle, Tachyon, we are building something new, revolutionary, futuristic, and practical. This vehicle represents the future of energy efficiency and transportation, as well as a monument to the innovative powerhouse that is Berkeley Engineering. Our design still features a fully solar-powered electric vehicle, but distinct from any of our previous generations it will be a four-passenger vehicle, instead of a single-seater. Design work is mostly completed, and construction has already begun in earnest.

We are designing, building, and racing a vehicle that is ultimately a stepping stone to future advances in transportation technology, making car transportation more energy-efficient and closer to carbon neutral. Our members have developed brand-new power electronics and design innovations in order to push our cars’ efficiency as far as possible. One day, we hope that technology from our cars and others like them will allow solar cars to not just be race cars, but also vehicles with practical, everyday use.

The most exciting time for us is always our races, and 2019 will be a big year. In the summer we expect to go to the Formula Sun Grand Prix, like we do every year. We’ll be racing Tachyon on its maiden race in Texas. But fresh off that race, we will put our vehicle in a shipping container and hop on a plane to Australia, where CalSol will race across the Outback against the best solar car teams in the world in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. We are hoping to use this crowdfunding campaign to help cover the expenses of this important event, such as air fare, shipping costs, and of course numerous other team expenses. Please pitch in to help make it all possible!

You can follow our progress on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @BerkeleyCalSol. Our website is calsol.berkeley.edu.

Thank you for your support!

(Psst! By the way, donations to CalSol are tax-deductible!)