{"id":49200,"date":"2023-05-08T17:23:26","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T21:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=49200"},"modified":"2023-05-08T17:23:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T21:23:26","slug":"electrek-is-proud-to-sponsor-formula-sun-grand-prix-2023-join-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=49200","title":{"rendered":"Electrek is proud to sponsor Formula Sun Grand Prix 2023, join us!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\"Formula<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Taking place in Topeka, Kansas, from June 27 through July 2 at Heartland Motorsports Park, this year\u2019s Electrek<\/em> Formula Sun Gran Prix<\/a> puts an international group of 22+ school\u2019s solar vehicle teams against each other in an on-track race.<\/p>\n

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The solar cars will be on the track June 30, 10 am to 6 pm, and July 1-2, 9 am to 5 pm, completing as many laps as possible on solar power. Admission is free, and we will be there. Join us!<\/p>\n

EVs, solar, batteries, engineering, college teams, racing\u2026 This is what we\u2019re about at Electrek<\/em>. That\u2019s why we\u2019re sponsoring the event along with Blue Origin, Heartland Motor Sports, and more to come. <\/p>\n

But it isn\u2019t just us that keeps a close eye on these solar racers. It is important to note that EV, battery, and solar companies, including Tesla, carefully watch these events as well.<\/p>\n

In fact, Tesla\u2019s cofounder and former CTO (and possible future board member) JB Straubel <\/a>participated in Stanford\u2019s Solar Car team<\/a> and noted (starting at about 11 minutes in the video below):<\/p>\n

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\u201cSolar car team\u2019s technologies are often ahead of their time in term of looking at next best generation of batteries, best solar panels, best motors and converters, things like that\u2026Most of my involvement with the solar car team was toward the end of my stay at Stanford. I had many friends that were part of that team throughout my time there and I recruited most of the people from the team, and we started\u00a0Tesla. It was a key thing at the beginning of Tesla.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Of course, Tesla and other EV automakers and solar\/battery firms are still recruiting from these teams:<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it matters more than most classes you can take. I mean it\u2019s one of things that even today at Tesla we look at resumes and we consider higher than GPAs and perhaps even higher than what classes they decided here and there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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