Henkel supports student project “Sonnenwagen”

Solar-powered across the Australian Outback: In just over a week, the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge will kick off in Australia. This international competition, held since 1987, brings together teams from around the world to race self-built, solar-powered vehicles across the continent. It is considered the toughest test of its kind globally. Among the participants is a student team from Aachen, Germany – and high-performance adhesives from Henkel.

Top performance for demanding applications

Covering around 3,000 kilometers, the solar car named “Aethon” will travel from Darwin in the north to Adelaide in the south of Australia at the end of August. This required top-tier engineering from the racing team, which consists of students from RWTH and FH Aachen. Henkel has been a sponsor of the project since this year, supporting the team with structural adhesives for bonding various mechanical components, high-performance materials for manufacturing carbon parts, threadlockers, and repair adhesives to minimize downtime during the race.

Henkel’s adhesive technologies are held to the highest performance standards. For example, Henkel’s threadlockers ensure that all chassis component screws can withstand the vehicle’s intense vibrations. In addition, the solar car is made predominantly of ultra-light carbon fibers, which make the vehicle aerodynamic, lightweight – and therefore particularly efficient. To manufacture these carbon components, Henkel supports the process with adhesive technologies that bond the finished carbon fiber parts together. All products provided by Henkel to team Sonnenwagen are standard in the automotive industry and other sectors.

“There is a strong overlap between the team’s ideas and Henkel’s,” says Sjoerd Dijkstra, Director Sustainability Strategy & Excellence at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. “Through our partnership, we aim to support young talents and, of course, showcase the performance and sustainability of our solutions in demanding applications across key industrial sectors. We see this project as an ideal innovation platform for forward-looking adhesive technologies in the automotive industry.”