Formula Sun Grand Prix

With a new year comes a new season of solar car racing! The official dates for the 2026 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) and the 2026 Electrek American Solar Challenge (ASC) have been released.

In addition, I’m excited to share that not only will this year’s FSGP track event be hosted at an entirely new racing complex, but event officials tell me a record 46 teams have registered to compete! This includes colleges from the US, Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

The sun has set on a frantic day of scrutineering at this year’s Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP), as teams scramble to qualify for a spot on the starting line tomorrow morning. Electrek FSGP 2025 is shaping up to be one of the event’s most attended ever, thanks to a strong showing of first-time and returning schools. But that also means new and unproven vehicles on the track.

Today, I walked through a couple of bays and talked with a few of the teams able to spare a minute; almost all of them were debuting completely new cars that were years in the making. Building a solar car is no easy feat. It’s not just the engineering and technical know-how that’s often a hurdle for them; it’s more often monetary. However, one of the things that makes this event so special is the camaraderie and collaboration that happen behind the scenes.

The countdown is on for another exciting week of solar car racing! Over 30 teams from the US, Canada, and worldwide have registered their hand-designed and built solar cars to compete in the 2025 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP). What makes this year’s FSGP especially notable, aside from the impressive number of teams we expect to see, is that it marks the 25th anniversary of the track event, first held in 2000.

Coming in hot… well, as hot as these solar cars can get, upwards of 60 mph.

It’s hard to believe we’re just over a month away from this year’s Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025 collegiate solar car track event! In July, some of the greatest engineering minds from universities across North America will roll into Bowling Green, Kentucky, with their respective hand-built solar-powered EVs to go head-to-head in a competition all about pushing the limits of sustainable transport. The goal? Complete as many laps as possible each race day using nothing but sunshine.

The event is open to the public and free to attend. Raycing kicks off on July 3 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT and continues through July 5 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT. You’re not going to want to miss this!

On today’s episode of Quick Charge, we ask where Tesla’s million buyers went as the wait time on Cybertruck drops to zero. Meanwhile, Ford EVs charge free in Texas, Hyundai’s 7 passenger Ioniq 9 heads towards production, and we recap the Electrek American Solar Challenge 2024.

Big thanks to this year’s event sponsors: Velotric, NIU, Altair, Bridgestone, MathWorks, Generac, IOSiX, SunCat Solar, Tesla, and Event Partner, the National Park Service

It’s been another extremely successful year for the Electrek American Solar Challenge (ASC) and the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) pre-qualifier event! Now that racing has concluded and we’ve had time to decompress from all the solar excitement, here’s a quick recap and some highlights from the 2024 season.

Big thanks to this year’s event sponsors: Velotric, NIU, MathWorks, Generac, IOSi, SunCat Solar, and Tesla

In what can only be described as one of the most challenging years we’ve seen, teams competing in the 2024 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) found themselves navigating spotty weather, an unfamiliar track, and for some, critical mechanical issues at the eleventh hour.

The final day of the FSGP track event concluded on Thursday, July 18. Following the awards ceremony that evening, event officials announced which teams would advance to Saturday’s 1,550+ mile Electrek American Solar Challenge (ASC) cross-country main event.

Big thanks to this year’s event sponsors: Velotric, NIU, MathWorks, Generac, IOSi, SunCat Solar, and Tesla

The second day of the 2024 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) at the NCM Motorsports Park was marked by intense competition for some and a struggle to get rolling for others.

École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS) out of Montreal, which translates to Superior Technology School, continued to lead the pack on day two with 65 laps. Meanwhile, Standford, Georgia Tech, MIT, and a few others continued to be plagued with mechanical issues. They hope to have those ironed out soon for tomorrow’s last day of racing.

After this year’s incredibly successful Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix, Electrek has moved to quintuple down on its title sponsorship of the American Solar Challenge (ASC) and Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) by signing a 5-year sponsorship agreement. The agreement will guarantee the parent organization, Innovators Educational Foundation (IEF), has funds to host the yearly races through 2028.

But there’s a lot more help needed to expand these incredible programs. If you’d like to join us in sponsoring these events, please get in touch! There are so many opportunities available…

We’re still decompressing after an exciting last week at the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix. While we’ve sponsored the event before, as the new title sponsor of the event, we decided to bring a team out and really go behind the scenes.

Taking place in Topeka, Kansas, from June 27 through July 2 at Heartland Motorsports Park, this year’s Electrek Formula Sun Gran Prix puts an international group of 22+ school’s solar vehicle teams against each other in an on-track race.