UC Irvine Giving Day

We are UC Irvine Solar Car, a student-run interdisciplinary team of 60 undergraduates from the University of California, Irvine. 

Our team is made up of several specialized sub-teams: MGMT/Leads, Chassis, Suspension, Human Interface, Aerobody, High Voltage, Low Voltage and Operations. Driven by the Sun, Powered by Innovation: These teams combine their expertise to compete while advancing solar transportation and pushing the boundaries of sustainable automotive engineering.

Our Alumni have continued to pursue their careers across automotive, aerospace, defense, tech and sustainable industries and have joined companies like General Motors, Ford, Tesla, Rivian, Volvo, Boeing, Anduril Industries, RTX, SoCal Edison, TSMC, Western Digital, Sandisk, Maxxeon and many more! 

This year's mission is to bring UC Irvine’s Solar Car team to competition at the Formula Sun Grand Prix 2026 and help pave the way for future UC Irvine students to succeed through our project. We humbly ask for your support in helping us fund essential parts, tools, spaces and registration fees for the upcoming summer competition.

Progress Report

First and foremost, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much to all the donors and supporters of UC Irvine Solar Car’s fall 2025 ZotFunder. We truly cannot thank you enough for choosing to be part of our team. Since our ZotFunder closed, our team has been working nonstop. We are in the midst of dynamics and endurance testing, spending long hours learning, refining and improving our vehicle as we move closer to the ideal spec we hope to bring with us to competition this July. We are also excited to share the happy news that the competition this year will take place at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minnesota. We have made meaningful progress on integration, safety testing, systems troubleshooting and performance tuning, all building on what we learned from our first-generation car.

Your Support So Far

Because of your generosity, we were able to raise $6,300, and this is the reason we can continue our journey to this year’s Formula Sun Grand Prix. All funds raised so far will be used directly toward our competition registration fees, a critical expense that allows our student team to officially compete and showcase the hard work we have put into this project. 

Looking ahead to spring, your continued support will help us push through the next critical phase of development. We hope you will consider supporting the students behind this vehicle this Giving Day as we prepare for new electrical system upgrades, improved power and battery management and the mechanical integrations needed to ensure our car is ready for competition. Every contribution directly supports the resources, tools, and care our members rely on as we work to bring our team to competition this summer.

We hope you will consider supporting our team this Giving Day so we can continue to participate in these events and represent UC Irvine to the best of our abilities. Thank you!