Covestro collaborates with Team Sonnenwagen and Sika for solar car race

A team of students from RWTH Aachen University and FH Aachen plan to enter their self-constructed solar-powered electric car in the world’s toughest solar car race, the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2019.

After a successful attempt at the previous year’s race, Team Sonnenwagen will attempt for the second time to be the fastest to complete the 3,000-km route in Australia without a single drop of fuel.

For the car, the Sonnenwagen Team relies on two-component polyurethane adhesives from Sika Automotive, which are based on the polyurethane raw materials of the Desmodur and Desmophen product lines from Covestro.

The products from the SilkaForce product line features excellent mechanical stability and flexibility, and are ideal for bonding complex parts, such as carbon-fibre reinforced plastics, and are tailor-made for such ultra-lightweight, high-strength designs.

Severin Kobous, Co-Chairman of the Sonnenwagen Aachen team, said: “Thanks to this adhesive, we were able to build this year’s Sonnenwagen in the shape we wanted. We use different adhesives – from flexible to highly elastic – in order to meet the requirements in terms of the design, components and substrates.”

Pascal Obringer, Global Head of Product Management at Sika Automotive, said: “Polyurethane adhesives are a perfect fit for the innovative concepts of future mobility. The Sonnenwagen project is an ideal example of the role our adhesives can play in the future.”