��AV Press

Sonnenwagen – the success story goes on

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0200

For a few years now, a team of highly motivated students from RWTH Aachen University and FH Aachen has been working on the question of how to make electric mobility even more sustainable. Their goal is to develop a solar-powered electric car to take part in the toughest solar car races in the world. After the successful initial participation at the World Solar Challenge in Australia in 2017 as "Best Newcomer" and the achievement of the third place at the European Solar Challenge 2018, the team now wants to take the next step based on the accumulated experience and in the World Solar Challenge 2019 attack the world leaders around the teams from Stanford, Delft and Cambridge.

��AV, a leading global provider of innovative and sustainable material solutions, shares the students' enthusiasm and will work with them to push existing boundaries to make the project a success. The company has a long-standing partnership with the renowned RWTH Aachen University and, following the successful and fruitful cooperation in the 2017 season, is supporting the solar car project with a variety of materials and technical services as well as being the main sponsor. Both partners have now signed a cooperation agreement on the project.

Partnership for solar mobility
"Sustainability is a core component of our corporate strategy, and solar mobility can make an important contribution to climate protection and the conservation of fossil resources," says Dr. Markus Steilemann, CEO of ��AV. "That is why we are supporting this ambitious project and intensifying our cooperation with the Sonnenwagen team. We use our innovative materials to provide solutions for future mobility. With this project, we are also promoting young talents.”

Markus Eckstein, first chairman of the Sonnenwagen team, welcomes the extended partnership: "We are very pleased to have ��AV back as a supporter. The cooperation with ��AV was already an important mainstay at the recent World Solar Challenge and helped us to reach the finish line in Adelaide as ´Best Newcomer´. The Sonnenwagen team can once again benefit from the high level of material expertise.”

Innovative materials for future mobility
The Leverkusen-based company has already gained some experience in solar mobility with innovative material developments: As an official partner of the Solar Impulse project, it made an important contribution to the success of the first manned, round-the-world flight with an airplane powered only by solar energy.

The test of a polyurethane car repair clearcoat from PPG at the World Challenge 2017, in which the biobased hardener Desmodur^® eco N 7300 from ��AV was used, was also successful. It also withstood the harsh climatic conditions in Australia.

The material and development cooperation will now be further expanded for 2019. A ��AV development team will be involved in the production plans of the solar car in order to contribute to an even lighter and more aerodynamic solar car design.

Successful start at the European Solar Challenge
As a first step on the way to Australia, the Sonnenwagen team has already successfully mastered the European Solar Challenge on the former Formula 1 race track in Zolder, Belgium. The aim of the race is not only to cover the greatest possible distance within 24 hours, but also to score points with innovations in vehicle development, the most constant 8-lap times and the fastest lap driven. The Sonnenwagen team was able to finish the toughest 24-hour race for solar vehicles in third place in the Challenger class.

"It couldn't get any better; despite the very difficult race course and the adverse weather conditions, we were able to get the optimum out of the race result," said first team chairman Markus Eckstein after the race. "We are confident that we will be able to take the upturn in success in Belgium with us to Australia and start there with a view to the podium as well.”

In addition, two members of the association won with an electric car now three years in a row at the e-CROSS Germany, a four-day, climate-neutral rally through North Rhine-Westphalia.

World's toughest solar race
The World Solar Challenge is considered to be the toughest solar race on earth and celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2017. Every two years, teams from all over the world compete to be the fastest to cover the 3,000 kilometer stretch from Darwin to Adelaide with homemade vehicles – without a drop of fuel.

About ��AV:
With 2017 sales of EUR 14.1 billion, ��AV is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. ��AV has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,200 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2017.

About Sonnenwagen Aachen:
Sonnenwagen Aachen is an association registered since September 2015 and consists of 40 committed students of the RWTH Aachen University and the FH Aachen University of Applied Science. The aim of the association is to design and manufacture a solar-powered electric vehicle and to take part in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in October 2017 – an emission-free race across the Australian outback. As the only German team in the Challenger class, Team Sonnenwagen Aachen will compete with other international teams on the 3,022 km-long track. The central objective underlying participation in the races is to raise society's awareness regarding the issue of sustainable mobility and to contribute to the development of appropriate technologies.

This press release can be downloaded from ��AV's press server at and from Sonnenwagen Aachen's website at .

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Forward-looking statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by ��AV. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in ��AV’s public reports which are available at . The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

Innovative materials for electric mobility

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0200

How can we make the mobility of the future as sustainable as possible? A group of highly motivated students at RWTH Aachen University and Aachen University of Applied Sciences posed this question and, to find out, dedicated their efforts to an ambitious project: the development of a solar-powered electric car for what is likely to be the toughest solar car race in the world, the World Solar Challenge 2017 from October 8 to 15 in Australia. To make their idea a reality, the approximately 45 junior researchers established the “Sonnenwagen Aachen e.V.” association, with the support of their professors.

��AV, a leading global supplier of innovative and sustainable material solutions, shares the students’ enthusiasm and wants to join forces with them to push existing boundaries and make the project a success. The company has cultivated a long-term partnership with the distinguished university and is supporting the “Sonnenwagen” (German for “solar car”) project as both a material and technical service provider and Gold Sponsor. The two partners recently signed a cooperation agreement for the project.

Partnership for solar mobility
“As sustainability is part of our strategy, we support this ambitious project, in which young researchers want to show that innovative and sustainable mobility concepts are already possible today,” says Dr. Markus Steilemann, Board Member for Innovation and Chief Commercial Officer of ��AV. “Solar mobility can make a key contribution to protecting the climate and conserving fossil resources. With our developments and this project partnership, we want to demonstrate our commitment to innovation and sustainability, but also to supporting junior talents.”

Hendrik Löbberding, First Chairman of Team Sonnenwagen, welcomes the new partner: “We are very grateful for ��AV’s support and will benefit above all from its superior competence in materials.” The Leverkusen-based company already has gained extensive experience using its innovative materials for solar mobility: As an official partner of the Solar Impulse project, it made a significant contribution to the success of the first manned flight around the globe in an aircraft powered exclusively by solar energy.

Road test: automotive coating with bio-based hardener
��AV wants to take advantage of the Sonnenwagen project to test various materials under the harsh climate conditions prevailing along the race’s route: temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius, high UV radiation and a high air dust content are typical there in October. The most important product application is a three-layer polyurethane coating from PPG, a leading global manufacturer of automotive coatings. The coating is particularly suited to application on body parts made of carbon fiber composites.

The climate conditions have a significant impact on the top clearcoat. It is formulated with the bio-based hardener Desmodur^® eco N 7300 from ��AV, 70 percent of whose carbon content is sourced from biomass.

The Sonnenwagen further incorporates polyurethane and polycarbonate materials from ��AV, which contribute to the lightweight and aerodynamic design of the solar car.

Acid test for solar cars
The World Solar Challenge is considered to be the toughest solar race on earth and celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Teams from all over the world compete every two years in their homemade vehicles to win the 3,000 kilometer race from Darwin to Adelaide – without using one drop of fuel.

The Sonnenwagen from Aachen will be the only German car going to the starting line in the Challenger Class this year. The team is very optimistic about its chances in the race: “We already have experience with zero-emission mobility and feel well-equipped to take part in the competition with the roughly 40 other teams from five continents,” says Hendrik Löbberding of Sonnenwagen Aachen team.

Two members of the association raced an electric car in, and won, the e-CROSS Germany, a four-day, climate-neutral rally through North Rhine-Westphalia. One month prior, the Sonnenwagen members accompanied a team from Bochum in the European Solar Challenge 2016, a 24-hour race in solar cars.

About ��AV:
With 2016 sales of EUR 11.9 billion, ��AV is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. ��AV, formerly Bayer MaterialScience, has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 15,600 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2016.

About Sonnenwagen Aachen:
Sonnenwagen Aachen exists as a registered association since September 2015 and consists of 40 committed students from RWTH Aachen University and FH Aachen University of Applied Science. The aim is to construct a solar-powered electric vehicle and participate in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in October 2017 - an emission-free race across the outback of Australia. As the only German team in the Challenger class, Sonnenwagen Aachen will compete on the 3022 km track with other international teams. By participating in the race Sonnenwagen Aachen wants to raise awareness for sustainable mobility and contribute to the development of the corresponding technologies themselves.

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Forward-looking statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by ��AV. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in ��AV’s public reports which are available at . The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

����AV Press

Sonnenwagen – the success story goes on

Innovative materials for electric mobility

��AV Press