Inside the race across the outback where engineering students are the track stars – and ifm among their most energetic fans.
When the future of sustainable transport hits the road, it looks a lot like this.
Forget cupholders. Ditch the touchscreens. This isn’t your average electric vehicle. The Sonnenwagen solar car, designed and built by a 50-strong team of German university students, is lean, lightweight, and laser-focused on one thing: pushing the limits of clean energy technology.
In August, they’ll line up against the best solar racing teams in the world for a 3000km sun-fuelled slog from Darwin to Adelaide – the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. Think Formula One meets Burning Man, with more solar panels and a lot less sleep.
It’s an environment where the weather’s unpredictable, the stakes are high, and the road can literally melt your tyres.
Which begs the question: Why is global sensor company ifm along for the ride?
Because this is what innovation looks like – and it wants a front-row seat.
Building a car for an outback wildcard
This year’s race throws a solar-powered spanner in the works: it’s happening in August instead of October, which means less daylight and less historical data to lean on. For Sonnenwagen, that’s made things interesting.
“The most challenging part was building a car for unknown conditions,” Sonnewagen head of marketing Charlotte Teckentrup said.
“In the past, we could rely on years of data. This time, it’s winter in Australia. Less sun, totally different weather, and no real playbook.”
With two months shaved off the usual build schedule, the team had to trade sleep for soldering and get creative with simulations.
“We collected as much weather data as we could find,” Teckentrup said. “But in the end, we won’t know what it’s really like until we’re out there.”
From backyard science to the corridors of political power
Sonnenwagen isn’t just designing high-efficiency race cars – it’s revving up the next generation of clean-energy dreamers.
Whether it’s 10-year-olds sitting in the driver’s seat during a school visit or policy-makers taking notes at a solar expo, this team shows up to inspire.
“We love talking about what we do,” Teckentrup said. “Last year we had a group of primary school kids in the workshop. They asked the toughest questions. But that’s the point. Maybe one of them will join Sonnenwagen in 2040.”
It’s not just kids getting inspired.
“Next year we’re going to the Bundestag (the historic home of the German parliament),” Teckentrup said. “We’ll be speaking with policy-makers, showing them what’s possible when you rethink efficiency.”
The ifm connection: from smart sensors to shared values
This year, Sonnenwagen gained a new ally in its corner: process automation heavyweight ifm.
Known for its work in smart factories, food production, and industrial IoT (Internet of Things), the company saw something special in this scrappy solar squad.
“Supporting Sonnenwagen is a natural extension of our values,” ifm Australia director Dave Delany said. “It’s student-led. It’s bold. It’s practical sustainability in action.”
The partnership isn’t just symbolic. ifm provided the team with high-performance pressure sensors and technical support – vital pieces of kit for a car where every data point counts.
“It’s a perfect match,” Sonnenwagen sponsoring Olivia Wahle said.
“We share a commitment to sustainable innovation and a similar way of working – technical, hands-on, driven. Plus, the connection between the German and Australian teams has been fantastic.”
Road-tested and road-obsessed
If you thought university students couldn’t manage logistics, think again. This crew has prepped 3000km of testing, weeks of driver training, and a full-scale plan to feed and transport 50 people into the middle of nowhere.
“The logistics are wild,” Wahle said. “But we’re on track. We’re running tests, analysing weather data, simulating conditions; it’s a lot. But that’s what makes it worth doing.”
Come August, the convoy will roll out each morning at 8am and camp under the stars each night. No pit stops, no power points. Just a solar car, a support crew, and a stretch of highway that doesn’t care if you studied all night or skipped a bolt.
What ifm gets out of it (besides sunburn)
Sponsoring a student solar team might sound like a left-field move for a global technology company.
But for ifm, it’s about taking the long-term perspective for its company and the industries it serves. As has been observed ad nauseum, technology is progressing at an ever-more rapid pace. Understanding – and hopefully shaping – the future will be impossible unless companies stay grounded in real engineering, emerging innovations, novel applications, and engaging with fresh generations of talent with new perspectives and capabilities.
“These students are solving the same types of challenges we are,” Delany said. “They do it with fewer resources but heaps of ingenuity. That kind of thinking is what inspires us – and reminds us that innovation can come from anywhere.”
It’s also an opportunity for ifm to dig deeper into future mobility, sustainable transport, and advanced clean energy – sectors it’s already inclining toward.
“This is a conversation starter,” Delany said. “It’s going to influence how we think about design, product development, and academic partnerships.”
Australia: Sunburn, snakes, deadly insects (and perfect testing conditions)
The Australian outback may not seem like the obvious place to prove cutting-edge engineering. But that’s exactly the point.
“It’s harsh, it’s unpredictable, and if your technology works out here, it’ll work anywhere,” Delany said.
For a company like ifm, that’s gold. Its technology already lives in punishing industrial environments – food-grade production lines, water treatment plants, mining operations – so throwing ifm components (as well as the myriad other components and parts from other partners and sponsors) into a 3000km solar gauntlet makes perfect sense.
“It’s not about flash,” Delany said.
“It’s about rugged, real-world performance. That’s what customers want. And that’s what Sonnenwagen helps us showcase.
“I don’t want to overstate the case – ifm is proud to be a sponsor, but we’re joined by many other great companies in supporting this team. Many sponsors and partners played a huge part in supplying components, expertise, and other forms of support; but that’s no different from our professional work generally.
“We’re always working in collaboration. We need to see how what we do complements what others do, where such collaborations succeed, where they need more work, how we can learn together.”
More than just a logo
At its core, this is a partnership powered by people – passionate engineers, inspired students, and an automation company that knows good ideas when it sees them.
“We want this to spark curiosity and pride,” Delany said.
“Internally, we want our teams to be energised by Sonnenwagen’s innovation. Externally, we want people to see ifm as more than just a sensor company. We’re part of the bigger picture – supporting education, clean energy, and real-world solutions.”
And for Sonnenwagen? Well, it’s just ready to race.
Armed with fresh thinking, smart technology, and a little help from its friends at ifm, it’s heading into the desert with one goal: to show the world what’s possible when engineering meets imagination.
To learn more, visit the ifm website.
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