Solar Car Challenge Foundation

The Solar Car Challenge is an international high school solar education program designed to help motivate students in science, engineering and alternative energy.  Through this program, students learn how to plan, design, engineer, build, race, and evaluate roadworthy solar cars. 

Science & Technology Magazine named the Solar Car Challenge as one of the top science and engineering programs in the country. 

 The Solar Challenge has reached 1100 schools in 20 countries, and has brought the excitement of science to more than  75,000 students.  We now have 261 on-going high school solar car projects from Washington to Florida, California to New York.  

In 1993, the Solar Car Team launched an education program to teach high school students how to build and safely race roadworthy solar cars.  The Solar Education Program met this objective, and worked to provide curriculum materials, on-site visits, and workshop opportunities for high schools across the country. 

The end product of each two-year education cycle is the Solar Car Challenge: a closed-track event at the world famous Texas Motor Speedway, or a cross country race designed to give students an opportunity to display their work as they travel cross-country.  The 2024 race at the Texas Motor Speedway reached a international viewership. 

Former national sponsors for the Solar Car Challenge:  Oncor, Lockheed Martin, Texas Instruments, Raytheon, Northrup Grumman, Vistra, Hunt Oil Company, Dell Computers, Green Mountain Energy, and The Acclivus Corporation.  The Solar Car Challenge is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization. 

The Solar Car Challenge has been honored for its Innovation in Education by the "D CEO Magazine," the NBC Universal Foundation, and the "Technology & Learning Magazine."