From kangaroos to sudden explosions, this team is ready to face it all! | BP2B: Student Edition! Ep3

1. 0:00 – 0:24

   Intro

   1. SASairam0:00

      In 2023 and '25 edition, we were the only Indian team to participate in the World Solar Challenge. Which means you have to travel from north part of Australia to southern part of Australia, which is around 3,022 kilometers, in just a span of five days. There are two primary shapes that teams use. One is, uh, the boat shape. Around 250-kilometer mark is when we observed that suddenly there was a drop in energy that we are gaining. There is air flowing beneath the car, so we take that flow of air and pass it

2. 0:24 – 1:40

   Welcome to the Best Place to Build: Student Edition

   1. SASairam0:24

      through the battery. [upbeat music]

   2. VIVidhi0:49

      Hello, and welcome to Best Place To Build, Student Edition. I'm Vidhi, a fifth-year engineering student here at IIT Madras. Currently, we're at CEPHI with Team Agnirath. We're here today with the team that is building this solar car, and they are innovating towards the future of sustainable mobility. Today, I have Sairam, the business head, to tell us more about their journey since 2021 and how they've managed to build this car. Hi, Sairam.

   3. SASairam1:12

      Hi, Vidhi.

   4. VIVidhi1:12

      So could you let me know what exactly is Agnirath, and what are you guys doing here?

   5. SASairam1:16

      Sure. Uh, so we are a solar car racing team, uh, based on IIT Madras, and we aim to design and build, uh, the most efficient solar race car possible, and we represent India in global World Solar Challenges. And we participated in World Solar Challenge 2023 and World Solar Challenge 2025.

   6. VIVidhi1:33

      What is this World Solar Challenge, and how does it help you guys in any way to be building these cars?

   7. SASairam1:38

      The World Solar Challenge has a

3. 1:40 – 2:55

   Introduction to Team Agnirath IITM

   1. SASairam1:40

      37 years, uh, long history, and it's a very rich, uh, legacy competition. And this has been graced by the participation of top, uh, people like, uh, Google co-founder, uh, Larry Page, and Tesla co-founder, JB Straubel. And this competition is very unique in multiple ways. Like, this is a cross-continental competition, which means you have to travel from north part of Australia to southern part of Australia, which is around 3,022 kilometers, in just a span of five days, only using solar energy, and you can use a battery as a backup. The temperature sometimes goes around, uh, 50, 60 degree Celsius, and as you go down toward the south, uh, there's a possibility of rains, so that you should ensure that the car is completely encapsulated and waterproof, so that the car can be sustained in those temperatures. And apa- apa- apart from that, we have, like, 70 kilometers of crosswinds. And since, uh, the car is made up of, you know, carbon fiber to ensure it has very less weight, that strong gust of wind is good enough for your car to topple. And we have multiple incidents throughout the history of teams where the entire battery got exploded, and their car, along with their dreams, burned to ashes. So this is a very, uh, challenging competition.

   2. VIVidhi2:48

      So this sounds like a very daunting challenge. More than a typical speed-based race, this is more of an endurance challenge,

4. 2:55 – 4:20

   The 3022 km World Solar Challenge explained

   1. VIVidhi2:55

      like you mentioned. So are there different levels to these competitions or different modes, or does everyone participate in the same category?

   2. SASairam3:02

      Okay, uh, so there are two major categories. One is Challenger Class, another one is Cruiser Class. Challenger Class is the one which we participated. It's like a single, uh, driver-based, uh, vehicle. But Cruiser Class is something which will look very similar to a commercial car, where you have a four-seater, where, like, four people can sit. And it looks very similar to a actual car. So these are the two different, uh, classes that happens in World Solar Challenge.

   3. VIVidhi3:24

      So when it comes to the battery usage, as you mentioned, do you get to charge the car only once, or every day you can recharge it, and solar is just to make it sustain through the day? Or is solar your primary energy source?

   4. SASairam3:35

      Yeah, so solar is considered to be our primary energy source. So the rules dictate that we'll start the race with 100% charged battery. And, uh, in Challenger Class especially, you are not allowed to recharge the battery through any external sources. Uh, like, throughout the journey in a single day, there are multiple checkpoints where you manually should sh- stop the car for 30 minutes. During that time, we can use the solar energy to charge the battery, but apart from that, there is no external usage of any charging source to charge the battery. But coming to Cruiser Class, they're allowed to charge their battery multiple times throughout their journey if required. So this also gives us an additional challenge of to make sure the solar panels which we use should be of highly efficient.

   5. VIVidhi4:14

      Wow! What is the motivation behind World Solar Challenge? Is it towards building the next generation of solar

5. 4:20 – 6:10

   Why do solar cars look like boats?

   1. VIVidhi4:20

      cars, improving solar efficiency?

   2. SASairam4:23

      So the overall aim of the competition is to ensure that, uh, more efficient and more commercial, um, commercialized, you know, components can be produced from this competition. Like, there has been MPPTs, which i- basically stands for maximum power point tracking, and BMS, battery management systems. So these components have been... There's a team called, uh, Arrow, Team Arrow, based on Australia, and from their team, uh, they made a startup, uh, named Prohelion, which basically, uh, specializes in manufacturing these MPPTs and BMS, and they've been produ- giving this to the existing solar car teams. So and we recently patented a new, uh, heat sink for our motor controller. So this aim of the competition is to ensure that such kind of R&D can be developed to improve more sustainable mobility.

   3. VIVidhi5:06

      That's great to know. And during the course of this competition, since it's five days long, how is the car, or each and every car, monitored, or are they left to be driven alone? And I can't imagine a driver driving for that long.

   4. SASairam5:18

      Uh, exactly.

   5. VIVidhi5:19

      How does it work out?

   6. SASairam5:20

      Yeah, so the race starts at morning 8:00, and it'll be... It should be ended by 5:00 every day, and this continues for the next i- five days. So the way we travel is it's like a convoy structure, so we have a lead car in the front, uh, in which all the drivers and all the team members will travel, and that car's purpose is to ensure that, uh, there is no such traffic, there's no bushfire, there's no any hindrance possible to the solar car. And behind the lead car, we have a solar car traveling, and one of our team members should actually drive the solar car, based on the rules, and the rest of the teams will travel in subsequent commercial cars behind it. And we are required to take one 20-feet container truck to ens- to just for safety purpose. If in case our car breaks down, we can load it in the truck, and, uh, we can just move it along the way.

   7. VIVidhi6:06

      ... Oh, it sounds like a very dangerous [chuckles] place. You mentioned bushfires as

6. 6:10 – 8:22

   Solar panels, MPPTs & power management

   1. VIVidhi6:10

      well, cars toppling. What else happens in these kind of-

   2. PRPratyush6:13

      The outside temperatures exceeds 50 degree Celsius, and, uh, due- to conserve the efficiency of the solar car, we typically constrain ourself from using any external, uh, fans. We use fans for battery and various electrical components, but sometimes it's, it's not sufficient enough to keep the battery within the, you know, threshold temperatures, and it often, uh, leads to explosion of batteries. And apart from that, we have encounters of wildlifes, kangaroos-

   3. VIVidhi6:37

      [chuckles]

   4. PRPratyush6:37

      ... deers crossing across. And one major, um, is... One major aspect is, it's not like a road designed for race-specific, uh, course. It's a public highway. It's, we basically drive on a Stuart Highway, and we have, uh, road trains coming across us with speed of 100 and 120 kilometers. So when they move across us at, at such a speed, we can see a commercial car just kind of wobbling and shaking. And now thinking about solar cars, which is like weighing around 250 kilograms, it's very high risk that it might topple, that can divert the roads. So these are multiple, you know, non-technical challenges we face around the ro- race of the-

   5. VIVidhi7:15

      So is there someone from the organization also traveling with the team when you guys are traveling, or is it the student teams alone traveling by themselves during the race?

   6. PRPratyush7:24

      Yeah. So the rules, like, as I mentioned before, the rules dictate that you should travel between nine- 8 o'clock to 5 o'clock. So to ensure that we follow those rules, and like I mentioned before, we can't cha- charge the batteries, or we can't do any major modifications-

   7. VIVidhi7:38

      Mm

   8. PRPratyush7:38

      ... in our car. There'll be observer, uh, appointed from the, uh, organization who will travel with us for throughout the five days. So we have to provide shelter, food, everything for him, and he will kind of note on each and every point about, uh, like, let's say, when we stop the car, when we start the car, are we doing any modification to the car? He'll observe everything, and then he report it to the main organization team.

   9. VIVidhi7:58

      Right. Of course, safety first, and-

   10. PRPratyush8:00

       Yeah

   11. VIVidhi8:00

       ... it's very crucial here. And you mentioned the competition is from around 9:00 to 5:00. What happens post 5:00? 'Cause you're in the middle of the desert.

   12. PRPratyush8:08

       Yeah.

   13. VIVidhi8:08

       So...

   14. PRPratyush8:08

       So, uh, after 5:00 o'clock, we are required to find a campsite. So I mean, like, campsite sounds a bit more luxurious. It's basically a barren land. We have a scout car, so where we go ahead of every other car, where, where we go ahead of a solar

7. 8:22 – 10:45

   Battery cooling, carbon fibre & structural design

   1. PRPratyush8:22

      car and find an area, and then we set up, uh, we get tents for ourselves. So we set up tents, and we usually stay in sleeping bags, and then we'd, we used to cook food, food for ourselves. For ourselves, the observer, et cetera, and this is iterative process. It repeats again. So it was like a very unique experience. [whooshing sound]

   2. VIVidhi8:40

      Hi, Pratyush. Um, so which module head are you?

   3. PRPratyush8:43

      In the past, I was the module head of vehicle dynamics, and now I'm the current team head.

   4. VIVidhi8:47

      How many modules does Agnirath have?

   5. PRPratyush8:50

      So Agnirath currently has three modules. Uh, one is the mechanical, which handles the basic structural framework. Other is the electrical, which handles the, how the motor runs and how is the energy transmitted from solar to motor through battery. And, uh, the third is the sponsorships or business management, which handle the finances, logistics, and, um, the sponsorships that in, uh, come into the team.

   6. VIVidhi9:11

      All right, coming to the mechanical aspect, I guess, the first thing that strikes me when I look at this car is the shape. It's unlike anything I've seen, almost kind of spaceship-like rather than a normal car-like kind of shape. What's the reason behind this unique shape?

   7. PRPratyush9:25

      So the World Solar Challenge mainly focuses on minimizing, uh, the drag as much as possible to improve the energy efficiency. So to minimize the drag, we have kept the shape of our car in the shape of a boat, uh, because that's the shape that we felt would minimize the drag a lot. And this was inspired by the teams who have spent about 10 to 20 years in this field, minimizing, uh, the drag as much as possible. There are two primary shapes that teams use. One is, uh, the boat shape or monocoque or monohull shape that we call. Other is the catamaran shape, which looks like a sailboat or a yacht. So, uh, we went ahead with the bullet design or the monocoque design.

   8. VIVidhi10:00

      That's great to know. And does it have anything to do with maximizing the space for your solar panels, or is it purely aerodynamics driving?

   9. PRPratyush10:07

      Yes. So the rules require us to have a solar area of maximum about three, six meter squares. We have kept the car quite big. It's about six meters long and about 1.5 meters wide. That is to accommodate as much solar area as possible so that we can get as much energy as possible.

   10. VIVidhi10:21

       Um, and these solar panels that you mentioned, do you make them in-house, or are they brought in by a vendor?

   11. PRPratyush10:27

       So the solar panels that we have currently are, uh, made in partnership with, uh, Tata Power, which is based in Bangalore. They import the cells, which are, uh, from US. It's about 25% efficient cells. And also, the conventional solar panels that you see on rooftop, those are glass encapsulated. Basically, the cell is covered by two layers of glass

8. 10:45 – 13:02

   The 2023 race: failures, fixes & moving to Adventure Class

   1. PRPratyush10:45

      on top and bottom. That reflects most of the sunlight that falls on the panels, uh, reducing the efficiency. However, our panels, if you see, those are encapsulated with plastic or ETFE sheets that we call. So those plastics are very thin and reflect a very, uh, minimal amount of sunlight, improving efficiency. So its semi-flexibility allows, uh, us to curve, like, to bend the panels to adjust, uh, to the shape of roof that we design for.

   2. VIVidhi11:08

      That's great to know. And how much solar power are you guys able to harness, and for how long would your car be able to run?

   3. PRPratyush11:15

      So, uh, the, each panel, like, about six meter squares of solar area we are using. Assuming about 25% efficiency, it's about 1.3 kilowatt hour that we get from our e- our solar panels. Uh, as per the range, it's, there's no particular range. Like, if on a full charge of battery and there was no solar panel, our car would run about 300 kilometers without solar panel. But if solar panels are involved, and as long as sunlight is there, the car can run as long as we want.

   4. VIVidhi11:40

      So you guys have optimized the energy needs for your car, such that the solar energy that you are able to get from this six meter square of solar panels is more than the energy requirements for the car itself. So how have you guys managed to optimize the car to this level?

   5. PRPratyush11:53

      So basically, we, uh... There is something called as energy audit that we perform on our car. So first, we analyze that what are our energy sources and where our energy is going or where we are losing energy. So few of the sources are the, uh, solar panels that we have. So we try to make solar panels as efficient as possible. Other is the regenerative braking. This is something that we'll be implementing in the car ahead.... uh, so regenerative braking is something basically that when you brake, when you are, uh, decelerating the car, we get some amount of energy which is lost back into the battery. And as for the energy losses that we have, that is due to drag, which you, uh, earlier mentioned that we have our car boat-shaped. That is to minimize the drag as much as possible. And then there's rolling resistance that we have. So for that, what we do is, uh, we minimize the, uh, weight of the car as much as possible. So conventional cars, if you see, or even F1 cars or even conventional cars, those weigh around 800 to 1,000 kgs, but our car is only about 250 kgs without driver. So due to being, due to it being so lightweight, and the tires are specially made by Bridgestone to provide as low of a rolling resistance as possible. This is an experimental tire, not a car, uh, commercial tire. So due to it being- due to it having

9. 13:02 – 15:10

   Life on/off the track: heat, wind, wildlife & road trains

   1. PRPratyush13:02

      such a low rolling resistance coefficient and such a low weight, um, the rolling resistance that we have finally is very, very low.

   2. VIVidhi13:08

      Great. And as you guys have very high temperatures in the desert and this is operated over battery, there's always the risk of your battery overheating. So do you have cooling systems in place for that?

   3. PRPratyush13:18

      Yes. Uh, so we did run thermal sims for our battery pack, and we- what we observed is we... typically, battery does not go above 35 or 40 degree Celsius. So, uh, we are quite safe in that. We have passive cooling systems in our battery, which are- take in air from below the car surface. Like, when the car is, uh, going ahead on the desert, there is air flowing beneath the car. So we take that flow of air and pass it through the battery using either passive cooling, or in case the heat is high, we switch on fans which are already present to increase the flow rate. That flow is enough to cool the battery and keep it safe.

   4. VIVidhi13:52

      That's a very innovative way of cooling, using the air that's already touching your car instead of using active mechanisms. That's quite cool. And this hood that I'm seeing, is that where the driver would be sitting?

   5. PRPratyush14:02

      Yeah. So, uh, the hood that is here, if you open the hood, the driver... This is ing- uh, egress point. So this is the point through which the driver will enter and exit the car during the race. So instead of lifting the entire roof, this canopy is the one that provides visibility to the driver for the entire race, and also serves as a gate, kinda, to exit the car.

   6. VIVidhi14:22

      And from India, how many teams have participated in this challenge?

   7. PRPratyush14:25

      In this challenge till now, uh, like in 2023 and 2025 edition, we were the only Indian team to participate in the World Solar Challenge. However, in earlier editions, there have been past teams that have participated.

   8. VIVidhi14:38

      That's great to know. And do you have any mentors or do companies help you out? I can see a lot of logos. Is that only in terms of sponsorship, or do they help you out in kind or with technological advice?

   9. PRPratyush14:48

      So, uh, there are companies that there are a lot of industrial support that we get. First is the financial supports, for example, the Total Energies that have supported us financially. Then there is the in-kind sponsors like, uh, Prabha Auto. They helped us design our proto and manufacture it. Uh, it was a steel, uh, chassis, steel space frame chassis that we had. And then there's the, uh, technical sponsors

10. 15:10 – 17:15

    Team logistics: convoys, observers & daily strategy

    1. PRPratyush15:10

       like Ashok Leyland. They helped us with, uh, mentor- they mentored all the suspension designing that we had. They helped us, uh... Like, we went to them with our designs and they told that, "No, this is wrong. It could be this way," and stuff. They also helped, took us, uh, took out time to teach us softwares which were essential for designing. And then there was, uh, Tata Power that I'd mentioned earlier. They helped us manufacture our solar panels. So yes, there has been a lot of industry support, even 2023 and even in 2025.

    2. VIVidhi15:36

       Um, and how many people are in your team to be able to pull all of this off?

    3. PRPratyush15:40

       So right now we have about 48 members. They're split in three, uh, generations. Like, we are the topmost generation, the team heads, which are Gen 3. And then there's the team leads, who take care of the technical aspects of the team. And then there's the team members, who have recently joined and are undergoing training, w- who would become the future team leads and team heads.

    4. VIVidhi15:58

       And since the competition happens every two years, is there any struggle in maintaining that same level of motivation? Because here in college, I've seen most of us operate on deadlines. Like, you give me, like, two months to do a project, still I'll do it two weeks before the deadline itself. Do you face any challenge in that respect?

    5. PRPratyush16:15

       I mean, obviously, uh, two years is a very long time, uh, for any competition team to survive. So in two years, uh, this, people have to be constantly motivated to keep working. Its designing phase, they might, uh, face pushbacks or setbacks, but they have to keep being motivated. A few of the things that motivate us are, for example, the, uh, events that we participate in, that are exposed, and then there was a C5 Open House. Such events do motivate us, uh, to push, and we are like, "Okay, we are going on the right track. We have to just finish this work that we have started."

    6. VIVidhi16:44

       And, uh, do you guys go for any other competitions apart from World Solar Challenge, or are you planning to take part in any other ones?

    7. PRPratyush16:51

       So till now, uh, we have, we were participating in the World Solar Challenge. Uh, however, now we are pa- planning to go for Sasol Solar Challenge as well, which will be happening in 2026. Sasol Solar Challenge, unlike World Solar Challenge, is held in South Africa instead of Australia, and here, uh, the ch- winning metric is judged by the distance covered instead of the time, uh, taken.

    8. VIVidhi17:11

       That's quite impressive. And how would you benchmark

11. 17:15 – 23:40

    Industry partnerships & technology collaborations

    1. VIVidhi17:15

       yourself against the leading teams across the world? Where would we be standing? I understand it's only the second time we've gone.

    2. PRPratyush17:22

       Yeah, so we are still a very relatively new team. We are doing decently well, and with the current learnings also, if once implemented, we are confident that we can do a lot better than we have done in World Solar Challenge. So we are hope- and this time, Sasol Solar Challenge, there is not a lot of competition that we are going to see. So we are confident that we could even win Sasol Solar Challenge if, uh, the modifications are done well.

    3. VIVidhi17:45

       So what were the issues that you faced during the last World Solar Challenge?

    4. PRPratyush17:49

       So this World Solar Challenge, there were a few issues that we faced. First was the MPPTs overheating. So MPPT is, uh, ma- maximum power point trackers. They are basically devices that optimize how well your solar energy is converted to, uh, battery, like electricity. So those were overheating, so that, that led to a drop in efficiency, and the total power we were getting had dropped by a lot. And then there was a battery pack, like, few cells of our battery pack were old, and they had died. Because of that, uh, the entire module of the battery was at risk of not... Like, it's not supplying the currents properly.... So because of that, our, uh, battery pack storage capacity had reduced by a lot. And then there was the mechanical issues, like there were rod ends that we used in our suspensions, so those, uh, we felt them failing, and mechanically they were bending. So those were another issues, another set of issues that we had to correct.

    5. VIVidhi18:40

       Okay. Since it's a five-day event, there's a lot happening each and every day. Could you tell me how the days went by on the days when you were part of the competition?

    6. PRPratyush18:49

       S- so, um, the five days went, uh, quite smoothly. So the first day that we, uh, participated, it was full of enthusiasm. We began the race, and then we are cruising down the Australian highway. It was about 200 kilometers, and we were like: "Okay, nothing has happened. We are going well." So, but around 250-kilometer mark is when we observed that suddenly there was a drop in energy that we are gaining. Uh, so we stopped the car on side of highways, um, and we observed what was going on. And then is when we realized that a few cells had died, and we were not able to produce enough, uh, energy. So due to... Like, there's a rule that we have to cover about 300 kilometers on the first day, and we were not able to do that by about short of 36 kilometers, so we had to pull back from the race. Um, we went into the Adventure Class. So the first day was quite dejected, but then second day and third day were the ones that we had, uh, driven a lot. Second day, we corrected some of the issues. For example, we switch, switched off the fans in the battery cooling because we observed the battery was not heating that much. So we observed that by switching off, we ran a lot of kilometers more, about 20 kilometers more we ran through. And, um, so yes, we covered about 250 or 300 kilometers on th- second day. I mean, the third and fourth day just went normal. Uh, we were just driving on the side of highways. And then fifth day is the one that we were about to reach the Al- Adelaide, which is the final point. So then is when we started to observe that weather was going very cold and began raining as well. So we had to drive the solar car through raining conditions to, uh, reach the final stage that we had to reach. So yeah, d- we had to make the car waterproof at last moment. At some times, there was hailstorms that we faced, and we had to open the car on side of road and to examine. And there were a few people holding the tarpaulin sheets to prevent solar panels from getting wet and stuff. So yes, it was little, uh, horrifying experience that we had, uh, during the fifth day.

    7. VIVidhi20:39

       Okay, wow. So when you entered the Adventure Class, it really did become an adventure at the end. [chuckles]

    8. PRPratyush20:44

       Yeah.

    9. VIVidhi20:45

       It's quite horrific to think of and quite dangerous as well. Wow. Uh, you mentioned that after the first day, you had to switch classes into an Adventure Class, so what is this Adventure Class that you mentioned?

    10. PRPratyush20:56

        So basically, there are three com- classes in the competition. There's Challenger Class, Cruiser Class, and Adventure Class. Challenger Class is the one in which there's a single-seater com, uh, solar vehicle that drives along the highway, and it's officially a part of the competition. In Cruiser Class, uh, it's two seater or two or more seaters, uh, vehicle, which is more, um, nearer to the commercial vehicles that we have. And there's the Adventure Class, which is a non-competitive, uh, racing category. So, uh, teams, if they are not qualifying for, uh, Challenger Class or Cruiser Class, they can participate in the Adventure Class to get an experience of how Australia, how driving in Australia would be, so they can build their next cars even more better.

    11. VIVidhi21:33

        That's quite nice as a competitive policy that the organization has made. Post the manufacturing stage, doing all of the layup, uh, how do you guys test the car? Do you test it within campus itself?

    12. PRPratyush21:45

        So, uh, for this car, which is Agnya, we had built a prototype, a s- uh, steel space for him chassis that we had built, and we tested that, uh, on roads, on in-situ roads, uh, behind the NAC as well. So we tested it there, uh, to ensure that our vehicle dynamics or the suspension steering, all those functioning properly, uh, because those were some things that we lacked in Aarush in 2023. So we wanted to ensure that this time what we have built is perfectly, uh, resilient and it works. So, uh, once the prototype was tested and we were confident, okay, our designs are working, and the electrical aspects as well, we moved on to manufacturing of the final car. This final car, then we tested... Uh, we had, we had very limited amount of time before going to the competition, so we had a few testing, one or two testing sessions we had at Ashok Leyland test track. So there we ran the car at about 60 to 70 kmph, uh, to see that if we are facing any issues. To test the endurance of the car, we keep running it over several kilometers to see if any issues pop up, and whenever issues did pop up, we corrected those and debugged it. And for the next car, which is, uh, this car we're taking to Sasol, so once all the modifications are done, we are planning to again test it. Uh, this time we are planning to do test it, testing it extensively. Because the car is already built, we have a lot of time till the next competition, so we have a lot of time to test as well.

    13. VIVidhi23:03

        Right. And in terms of funding and getting access and clearance from these authorities, does the institute support Agnirath in any way?

    14. PRPratyush23:12

        Yeah, uh, so there's a lot of support that institute does give us, uh, in terms of this. Um, it helps by handling the bureaucracy that is involved in this entire process, and then, uh, giving clearances. For example, we had to ship our car, so to permit those, getting some ATA Carnet certificate. So all those bureaucracy is handled by the institute because, uh, institute does also help us in terms of sponsorships. They provided us, uh, with a lot of money to, uh, for the logistics

12. 23:40 – 25:51

    What’s next for Agnirath?

    1. PRPratyush23:40

       of Agnya.

    2. VIVidhi23:42

       Right. And what's the future of Agnirath? What do you see it being, like, participating in the same World Solar Challenges or going beyond in terms of your car? Are there goals beyond the World Solar Challenge?

    3. PRPratyush23:56

       So, uh, we are already participating in the World Solar Challenge as a Challenger Class. But now we are expanding into participating into other competitions, like there's the Sasol Solar Challenge that we are participating in. Both of these are Challenger Class, where one-seater, one driver is participating, one driver is driving the car. So, uh, in future, maybe in future, we will try to shift towards the Cruiser classes as well, which is about two drivers in a car, which is driving the car. That will be more towards the commercial solar mobility that we, that Agnirath has a vision for.

    4. VIVidhi24:24

       That's great to know. And overall, what's your view? Do you think that solar cars can be commercialized in the future, or given unpredictable weather conditions, it can only be sort of an assistive mode, not like the primary mode of energy for a car?

    5. PRPratyush24:39

       So, uh, solar mobility is obviously possible. Uh, it could be the future. However, there are certain, uh, difficulties in it that have to be countered. For example, the cost involved. The cost of making this car was very high, which I don't think a normal, um, middle-income people can afford. So that is something to look at. Uh, once it goes into mass production, maybe the cost would reduce, and if, uh, materials are sourced more, uh, locally and it's manufactured in India, maybe it would be cheaper, and solar mobility is possible after.

    6. VIVidhi25:07

       And what would be your most memorable experience from Agnirath?

    7. PRPratyush25:12

       Um, so the most memorable moment, uh, for me, would obviously be the finish line, when we crossed the finish line. And that was one of the moments that I will never forget, because the entire team was there, and we were cheering, and then people lifting others on the, uh, on their shoulders, and we were shout- shouting Bharat Mata ki Jai! and stuff. So, like, those things are something that I'll never forget, the amount of, uh, happiness and enthusiasm that was in the air at that time.

    8. VIVidhi25:36

       Thank you, Pratyush, for your time. Today, you helped us understand what Team Agnirath is. The future for sustainable mobility is looking bright. If you like this content, do like, share, and subscribe, and catch you for the next episode.

Episode duration: 25:56