Cambridge University Eco Racing (CUER) is a student-run team which designs, builds and races solar-powered cars. Our racing cars showcase cutting-edge sustainable engineering and demonstrate the incredible potential of electric vehicle technologies. By designing a car to run on solar power alone, we are forced to make a step change in vehicle efficiency, resulting in new technologies for a low-carbon future.
Cambridge University Eco Racing was founded in the autumn of 2007 by a fourth-year engineer who, inspired by his work on a solar car team during his year in MIT participating in the Cambridge-MIT Exchange, sought to begin a similar project when he returned to his studies in Cambridge. By the end of the academic year, CUER had already built a prototype vehicle, Affinity, driving it from Land's End to John O'Groats in June 2008, visiting schools and town centres along the way in the hope of demonstrating to a larger audience the incredible potential of electric vehicles. Through the development of Affinity and our future vehicles, CUER aims to showcase cutting-edge sustainable engineering and to develop our own technologies for a low-carbon future.
We are currently preparing to compete in the 3000km Global Green Challenge across Australia this October, and we are well underway with the construction of our second vehicle, which we expect to have a cruising speed of 60mph. Our team currently has 75 members, who cover every aspect of the project, from technical design to PR and outreach, and we are also supported by the CUER Advisory Board and academic supervisors. Moreover, none of our project would be possible without the generous support of our industry sponsors and advisors, including Premier Farnell, and because of this CUER is well-placed to achieve Britain's best ever solar racing performance.