UC Riverside
Solar Car
Since 2017, UC Riverside Solar Car has been developing, innovating, and improving Solar Cars that push what we have ever seen before!
30+ Students
8+ Majors
Founded by co-founders Kyle Semelka and Paven Bhogal in 2017
>>About Us
The University of California Riverside Solar Car team consists of many talented, undergraduate students who aim to construct a full-scaled solar car to compete in the Formula Sun Grand Prix, and the American Solar Challenge: a national collegiate competition which requires teams and their solar-powered vehicles to finish a 2,000 mile cross-country journey.
LEARN MORE >>>> Core Values
Leadership
The UCR Solar Car team encourages members to be strong leaders in their perspective industries and smart decisions makers
Innovation
The leads and all other members of the team work hard everyday to make creative improvements to the solar car electrically, mechanically, and design wise
Dedication
Countless hours are dedicated outside of school to improve and perfect our solar car. Without the dedication of our team, progress and completion would not be possible
Teamwork
The UCR Solar Car would not be possible without all members of the team, so we encourage strong collaboration, open communication, and team bonding
Joining UCR Solar Car has to be one of the best things I have done in UCR. I originally joined the team to get more involved in UCR as everything was online. I continue to be a part of this amazing team as I want to see the end result of this project and work alongside great team members and ethusiastic students.
I enjoy applying the things we have learnt in class in a real life setting. Being a part of Solar Car got me exposed to the different engineering teams and how they work hand in hand together.
As my time at UCR is coming to an end,my main takeaway is the importance of team work and loving the work we do are key factors in making the experience better and more educational. Being a part of solar car spiked my interest in focusing more on electrical engineering and as a result I will be graduating with an EE degree.
Learning about the Solar car team through an IEEE flyer, I joined hoping for hands-on opportunities to learn more electrical engineering skills and meet fellow peers. The activites and supportive environment I experienced as a member inspired me to take on more responsibilities, thus further becoming an electrical team leader and finally a project manager.
Now, I work towards taking our solar car to competitions and foster a supportive environment for all members. In addition, I have learned the importance of safety when performing hands-on tasks and also developed an interest in power engineering with a focus on the latter in embedded systems.
>> Frequently Asked Questions
The solar car team at UCR is a club that is made of 4 sub-teams that include Electrical, Telemetry, Mechanical, and Software. The goal is to construct a full-scaled solar car to compete in the Formula Sun Grand Prix, and the American Solar Challenge: a national collegiate competition which requires teams and their solar-powered vehicles to finish a 2,000 mile cross-country journey.
There is no application for joining the solar car team. You can join our Discord server to meet fellow solar car team members and to keep posted on upcoming meetings, and events.
The UCR solar car team is open to any UCR student regardless of major. Freshman and transfer students are welcome to join!
For the lasted information regarding any general meetings, indivualul team meetings, meetings events, or socials refer to our Discord server.