1 — Design Flexibility

Users design and build custom standalone renewable energy systems - in the form of performance solar-powered radio-controlled model racecars. Students create with solar and battery technologies by working from first principles with actual PV and lithium cells. The new kit design evolved from building 700 cars over 10 years with the non-profit Solar Rollers high school energy education program.

2 — Lithium Battery Design & Build

The heart of the standalone energy system is the battery. It powers, it stores and it buffers energy in both directions. Our students design, build, test and race their own custom battery - building from first principles using individual cells and balancing leads. This is a critical workforce need as battery production scales around the world.

3 — Solar Array/Platform Design & Build

Much like the battery build, the kit works from first principles starting with individual top-quality solar cells. The modular platform design allows great flexibility in both the electrical design and the physical design of the car. The platform is lightweight, strong and can be reinforced and attached to cars in a variety of ways. Cells are quickly replaceable if damaged and platform parts can be reused to reconfigure the platform for another array.

4 — A Ripper of an RC Car

Durable, fast, sophisticated, customizable RC car - system matched to propel and be propelled by your solar array and battery. A 4-wheel-drive, brushless high quality touring car.

5 — Flexible Pathways and Curriculum

The kit can support classic Solar Rollers high school racing as well as a variety of other programs. Summer camps, home schooling, private races, science room builds…

6 — Control chip (coming soon)

The original Solar Rollers electrical system was controlled only by the forgiving nature of solar cells (which are voltage limited and current limited). While this raw approach taught first principles in design and real-life usage, we are adding a sophisticated control chip to the kit to add programmability and a number of valuable lessons.

Solar Rollers kits, provided by LERNT, are patent pending under
non-provisional patent application protection by the USPTO.

For more info see https://www.solarrollers.org/srip