We are kicking the year off with the continuation of our blog. Ever since Team 23’ recruited us, Team 25’, we have had 6 long months, full of promotion events and preparations for the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC). We started off with an introductory camp in July and then we immediately went on to participate in our first Solar Challenge, the iLumen European Solar Challenge (iESC), working as a team for the first time after barely a month of knowing each other.
I’ve mentioned that we barely knew each other in September, that’s not completely true… we first met in June, right after getting the phone call from our managers, saying that we got selected for Team 25’, and then spent a few days together during the intro camp Team 23’ organized. After meeting in our office in Groningen we cycled together to Grolloo, where we set up camp. During those 4 days, we participated in lots and lots of activities our alumni organized for us - including a lot of challenges, like waking up in the middle of the night to set up tents, in silence, in less than half an hour, or completing mini challenges in the city to get points for our team! To conclude our trip, we cycled back to the office and had a BBQ with our alumni from the very first team to the newest one!
Fast-forward to September, we immediately started preparing for the iESC, first with a testday at the RDW Testcentrum, to get our drivers accustomed to Green Thunder, and back at the office, packing, documenting and learning from our alumni’s past experiences. We were lucky enough to get sunny weather during the challenge. That greatly benefited the whole experience and it meant that we could get more energy from the solar panels during the day, thus only having to charge the battery during the night stints. For most of us, this was our very first contact with other teams from all over Europe and the chance to prove ourselves and work as a team. It’s safe to say that we succeeded in both our goals - we came home with the National Champions title after all!
Three months later, members from the Chalmers Solar Team - friends we made during iESC that is - visited us in our office! We showed them around our premises and exchanged advice, knowledge and of course stickers. Not only that, but through reflecting on our experiences from the iESC and taking part in several workshops, we bonded as a team even more, making sure we appreciate and respect each other. During the last months of 2024, we participated in two SCRUM workshops, a cultural workshop, one for diversity and inclusivity and a cooking one. All of those were extremely helpful for us, since we come from different cultures and backgrounds. The SCRUM workshops were especially helpful, because having to deal with a technological project of such a big scale we had to use some kind of agile development methodology and what better method than SCRUM. We got a lot of advice from Hanze, one of our sponsors who organize these workshops for us, and the opportunity to practise with tailor-made scenarios.
A personal highlight is the cooking workshop, where our lovely instructor combined various favourite recipes from our different cultures and created a cozy dinner for the entire team. We cooked everything together from scratch, from appetizers to main courses to dessert, ranging from classic Dutch Stamppot, to Greek Tzatziki to Iranian Fesenjān, among others. Of course, we finished every last crumb! We even decided to end our night with a beer or two in a nearby pub and a visit to our local karaoke bar.
I would say that 2024 had a lesson for everyone, the most important being that it would be in our best interest to always be prepared. With the BWSC being 2 months earlier than usual, we all felt the pressure increasing. It means less time to prepare and test, or else, more work condensed into 13 months. Having a plan B in place is ideal for when things go wrong - better safe than sorry, as we like to say. We learnt this lesson from Team 23’ too, when their solar deck flew off during their simulation trip in Australia, among other unfortunate events like lost luggage and having their container get quarantined. Our goal is to be as prepared as possible and account for every possible inconvenience.
The second important lesson we take with us in 2025: good work takes time and effort. With time running out, maintaining a high quality in our work has been harder to achieve and we have often been asked to choose between good quality or faster execution. At the end of the day, we certainly hope our decisions will be worth it and our efforts will pay off! Staying focused on our long-term goals while balancing smaller challenges that come up along the way has been a learning experience for all of us. Ultimately, it all comes down to trusting the process, and believing that the time we invest now will lead to great success on the road ahead - pun intended.
Stay tuned to find out more about our preparations and how this month is treating us!