The delegation from the Projet Esteban technical team who entered the competitions in the U.S. (Photo: Cora Kennedy)

With Projet Esteban, Polytechnique Montréal became the first university to win both competitions in the same year in the Multi-Occupant Vehicle category. No fewer than 32 teams from as many universities in Canada and the United States entered these events.

At the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix, an annual three-day event on a closed circuit, Projet Esteban took first place, based on the miles travelled, the number of vehicle occupants, the average speed and the non-solar electrical charge.

The Esteban 11 car, which has a carbon-fibre shell, travelled 522.9 miles (841.5 kilometres), which is the second-longest distance of the teams that qualified for the competition. The average speed of 29.95 miles per hour (48.19 kilometres per hour) was the fourth-highest among the teams that drove on the track.

However, Projet Esteban stood out from the other teams for its very low consumption of non-solar energy: 9.17 kilowatt-hours (kWh)—9.16 kWh from its on-board battery and 0.01 kWh from an external charge. As a comparison, the team that finished in second in the overall ranking, Appalachian State University, used 34.66 kWh of non-solar energy.

At the Electrek American Solar Challenge, a bi-annual competition held on the road, Esteban 11 travelled 1,610.3 miles (2,591.5 kilometres) from Tennessee to Wyoming, following the seven National Historic Trails. At this extremely demanding eight-day event, the Projet Esteban team finished first in its category with impressive victories on three of the four stages. It also won the award for best mechanical design and the safety award.

The Projet Esteban team travelled the competition route at an average speed of 36.2 miles per hour (58.2 kilometres per hour), which is the second-best average of the teams in its category.

Once again, the technical team’s energy efficiency set it apart, with its vehicle using only 37.9 kWh of external energy, which is much less than two other teams that finished on the podium (87.3 kWh and 76.5 kWh respectively). Esteban 11 used the lowest on-board battery charge (9.1 kWh) and the lowest external charge (28.7 kWh) of all the vehicles competing in its category.

Pride and recognition

“We are very proud to represent Québec engineering by winning first place at the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2024 and at the Electrek American Solar Challenge 2024 in the multi-occupant category, alongside our colleagues from École de technologie supérieure (ETS), who finished in first and second place respectively in the Single-Occupant Vehicle category at these competitions,” said Zachary Villiard, Co-Director of the Projet Esteban technical team and undergraduate mechanical engineering student. “We are also very appreciative of the opportunities and support from Polytechnique Montréal, because they allowed us to create the most efficient solar car prototype in its category in North America.”

Zachary added: “What’s more, the many generations of prototypes developed since our technical society was formed in 1998 and the students who accumulated the knowledge and perfected the manufacturing processes over all these years made it possible for our team to design and manufacture the first ever prototype from Polytechnique Montréal to win the Electrek American Solar Challenge. These trophies and victories belong to the current and past contributors to Projet Esteban!”

Jacqueline Wallace, Vice-President, Communications, External Relations and International Affairs, at Polytechnique Montréal, noted: “This victory is the culmination of nothing less than decades of work by those who leveraged their dedication and ingenuity to ensure the Projet Esteban technical team endured over the years. The team was able to constantly renew itself, despite turnover from graduating students, by constantly recruiting new members who were able to in turn take the wheel of this unique technical team and its commitment to sustainable development.”

The team that contributed to designing the Esteban 11 is made up of versatile students from eight engineering departments. The following students, most of whom are undergraduates, participated in the competitions in the U.S.:

Department of Electrical Engineering
Karl Élie Abari, Jean-Félix Caron, Olivier Desjardins, Marie-Li Dugré, Georges Kevin Etonde Azombo, Émile Mayer, William Pelletier, Maxime Rouiller (Master’s)

Department of Computer Engineering and Software Engineering
Victor Gilbert (computer), Henri Larocque (software)

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Antoine Boily, Zacharie Bourassa, Titouan Ebert, Etienne Gendron, Laure Jalbert-Drouin, Alexis Le Bouthillier, Éléonore Pelletier, Marie Rouillard, Benjamin St-André, Zachary Villiard