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# South African students just drove a solar-powered car across the country - and made history
- URL: https://www.businessbagel.com/tut-sunchaser-4-sasol-solar-challenge-ford/
- Published: 2026-09-25T12:54:46.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-25T12:54:46.000Z
- Description: Tshwane University of Technology covered 2,369 kilometres on sunlight to win the Sasol Solar Challenge outright, 851 kilometres clear of the team in second.
- Author: Christian Maidman
- Tags: Companies, Business Bagel News

Two years ago Tshwane University of Technology's solar car crashed out of the Sasol Solar Challenge after 114 kilometres. This month the same team covered 2,369 kilometres on sunlight and won it outright, beating the teams that flew in from Switzerland and India.

It helps to know what they won. The Solar Challenge is not a race. It is a distance-first challenge: teams run a set route over eight days on battery power charged by the sun, and whoever covers the most kilometres takes it. The route ran from Sasolburg to Franschhoek between 10 and 17 September, through the Free State, North West and the Northern Cape before dropping into the Western Cape.

TUT's car, SunChaser 4, was in the lead by the end of Day 1 and never handed it back. It finished on 2,369 kilometres against 1,518km for Switzerland's Solar Energy Racers and 1,191km for India's AgniRath, which puts 851 kilometres between first and second. The squad behind TUT is a genuine mix: mechanical engineering students, returning alumni who worked on earlier SunChasers, mechanics and high school pupils.

## The week the weather turned

On Day 7 the weather collapsed well past the forecast and cut the solar harvest to almost nothing. The team rationed what it had and completed the full day's route on solar power alone, reaching Clanwilliam on a charge low enough to end most people's day. Day 8 was steeper. The mountain passes demanded maximum torque and pulled the battery down to 5%, which forced a static solar recharge at Gouda before the final stretch into Franschhoek. They made it, and became the first South African team in the challenge's history to cover the entire route without once putting the car on a trailer.

Mpho Mogadimo, the BEngTech Mechanical Engineering graduate who drove it, said the challenge was about far more than crossing a finish line, and that coming away with the win made the experience even more special.

## What Ford did on the road

Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa put up the solar panels, cash funding and engineers from its Silverton plant who consulted on the build, then sent mentors to travel all eight days with the team. Ranger PHEVs ran as the chase and support vehicles. When the speedometer attachment broke, Ford 3D-printed a new one. When a light on the solar car's trailer failed, its diagnostic team sorted it out. The mobile workshop it brought along served almost every team in the field, not only the one Ford was partnered with.

Marko Venter, Ford's Engineering and Operations Leader, said the company's job was to bring its engineering experience and support the students where needed, and that the students were the ones doing the thinking, learning and problem-solving.

Organisers are looking at rebuilding the 2028 edition around green hydrogen alongside solar and battery, with three classes proposed and the rules still being drawn up with universities, engineers and energy companies. None of it is confirmed.