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A part of our technical team is working at Fokker. They are working on the production of our new solar car RED E. What does such a production day look like? You can see it in this photo report.

1. On the road
The holiday park ‘Park Sandur’ where the production team sleeps, is a 25-minute drive away from Fokker. This means that the team takes a ride to Fokker every day before the actual production work can begin.

 

2. A good start is …
Prior to the production phase, work preparations were made to make the production process run as smoothly as possible. The photo shows Mariska, who goes through the work preparations one last time. After all, a good start is half the battle!

 

3. We are ready
The outer shell of the solar car is made of carbon. This is done by placing carbon rags in a mold. After this, everything is placed in an autoclave (a large oven that works under pressure) to cure. The molds are treated in advance, so the carbon of the car will be released from the mold more easily. The product we use for this is very harmful to the respiratory tract and requires good protection. Evert and Jan are ready: Let the productions of the solar car begin!

 

4. Carbon in the mold
One of the most important steps in the production process is the placement of the carbon in the molds. The carbon forms the actual outer shell of the solar car. The placement of the carbon in the mold must be very precise, because this will determine the aerodynamic outcome of the solar car in real life

 

5. Core materials
To add extra stiffness and strength to the car, core material is placed between the layers of carbon. You can read in this Wisdom Wednesday why this is done!

 

6. In the autoclave
When the carbon and core materials are positioned correctly in the mold, a vacuum package is built over the mold. Once this is done, the mold will be placed in the autoclave. After about 9 hours, everything is ready and can be removed from the autoclave. After this, the carbon outer shell of the solar car can be removed from the molds.

 

7. The end of the day
When the production team is back at the holiday park, the team members end a day of hard work with a good meal. Tomorrow they will get up early for a new production day!

 

Are you curious about the result of this hard work? The 21st of June we will reveal our solar car RED E in the Grolsch Veste. Save this date and make sure you will be there!