Can studying also be fun?
Studying Energy Technology can be great fun! That is exactly what around 170 first-year students in the Mechanical Engineering programme experienced in May 2025, when they gathered to compete in the Solar Echo Challenge 2025.
Can there be anything more fun than designing, 3D-printing components, and building your own smart miniature solar car?
This challenge was the result of five months of hard work – and a celebration of young engineers’ creativity and enthusiasm in tackling energy-related problems. This year’s competition placed strong emphasis on energy efficiency, smart vehicles, and eco-design.
The student teams could compete in several categories: the fastest solar car, the lightest solar car, the most innovative design, the best eco-design, the best design for recycling, and the smartest solar car. Their miniature cars were equipped with supercapacitors and solar panels, tasked with navigating a maze and passing through the dark “Bat Cave”.
This undergraduate course is part of the
Bachelor’s Programme in Mechanical Engineering
and was developed by the teaching and research team at the Department of Energy Technology:
Monika Ignatowicz
Erik Björk
, and
Saman Nimali Gunasekara
.
If you would like to know more about the course, please visit:
KTH | MJ1104
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