Long before electric vehicles began covering America’s transportation landscape, teams of innovative Rose-Hulman students created solar-powered cars that pushed the limits of automotive technology and crisscrossed the country—all the while helping affirm the Institute’s growing reputation among the nation’s top engineering colleges and universities.
From 1990 through 2001, the Solar Phantom race team spent most of the summer basking in the sunshine while competing for top honors in the biennial Sunrayce/American Solar Challenge road races, two Formula Sun Grand Prix events, an east coast road rally, and a Solar 300 competition. The car also participated in pre-race festivities in front of more than 300,000 spectators at the Indianapolis 500 race.
Rose-Hulman’s team had seven top 10 finishes in these events and upon many occasions finished ahead of teams from such prestigious institutions as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Northwestern University, Purdue University, the U.S. Military Academy-West Point, and Yale University.
Also, Sunrayce’s Indianapolis-to-Colorado route in 1995 and 1997 had its first overnight stop at Rose-Hulman, attracting thousands of visitors and race officials to campus and lining Wabash Valley highways to cheer for the hometown team and get a glimpse of the futuristic-looking vehicles.
All of this was the idea of an ambitious group of engineering students who convinced skeptical Institute administrators to accept the challenge of designing and building a solar car from scratch materials to compete in the General Motors-sponsored GM Sunrayce USA, a 1,800-mile race from Orlando to Warren, Michigan, over the course of 11 days in July of 1990.
“Working with a team of people to take a concept from paper, to see it become an actual product, and then to see it out driving on the road at 55 mph was a great culmination to an engineering education,” stated Ken Whitehead, 1990 electrical engineering alum who joined 1989 electrical engineering graduate Mike Thoeny and 1989 computer science and electrical engineering alum Ron Szabo in writing the original project proposal that was accepted by GM officials.
Each Sunrayce event was a series of nine to 11-day mapped race segments, with a mid-day checkpoint. Cars started each day at one-minute intervals depending on the race standings and dashed to each day’s finish line, where teams would spend the rest of the day changing their battery packs for the next day. The race winner was the team completing the entire race in the shortest amount of time. Meanwhile, the Formula Sun Grand Prix and Solar 300 events were run on oval race tracks in which the team completing the most laps was declared the champion.
The original Solar Phantom car, used for Sunrayce events in 1990 and 1993, had an aerodynamically sleek and lightweight white carbon fiber-based body that had just enough room inside for the driver, electrical and mechanical components, and a rechargeable battery pack. Energy was collected from a large ping-pong table-shaped panel with more than 700 connected solar cells on the roof. Construction was an all-out effort by team members, with final preparations being completed during an all-night session in a Florida hotel parking lot. The car eventually passed vehicle inspection and drivability testing requirements with minutes to spare.
Then, an internal equipment fire required team members to park the car for most of one day early in the race as the car’s entire electrical wiring system was replaced. Despite that early setback, the team finished 20th among the field of 32 competitors.
Racing Toward Sunrayce Success
A new, improved, red-colored Solar Phantom, with more spacious interior body features, was more competitive in its two cross country journeys, crossing the finish line fifth in the 1997 race. A key moment came when an effective race strategy and course familiarity helped the team pass Michigan's car in the final quarter mile of the first-day segment from Indianapolis to the Rose-Hulman campus — to the delight of local spectators.
“We took advantage of a home field advantage with familiarity of a stoplight near campus. While Michigan was stopped in traffic, we timed it perfectly, sped right past them, and beat them to campus,” recalls Solar Phantom driver Grant Carpenter, a 1999 mechanical engineering graduate. “We had taken many test drives through that patch of highway and were very familiar with that stoplight. We knew when the light was going to change.”
Another memorable event for Carpenter came the next morning when he had the opportunity to drive the Solar Phantom IV off campus, through downtown Terre Haute, and across nearby Marshall, Illinois, his hometown.
“It seemed like there were people everywhere cheering (Rose-Hulman) and me on."
-Grant Carpenter (ME, 1999)
Wes Hamilton, a 1996 mechanical engineering alum, adds, “The whole experience of participating in a cross country race is unforgettable. Meeting so many people, seeing so many new places, and living out of a van for nearly two weeks. It all adds up to a singular experience unlike any other.”
Lessons learned during three years on the Solar Phantom team inspired 1994 mechanical engineering alum Greg Hubbard to earn a master’s degree from MIT and bring innovation to GM through electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems. He has spent most of his career working in dynamics, control systems, and software, and helped lead in the development of several electric and hybrid vehicles for the company.
“Solar Phantom helped prepare me to lead GM’s battery cell, module, and pack development for a few years (2018-19) before returning to the control systems area (in 2020),” Hubbard noted. “At GM, as we have been expanding our propulsion system controls from internal combustion engine-based to hybrid to electric vehicles and beyond, there are clear lines of inspiration for me personally as well as our team to those Solar Phantom roots–not only in the specific learnings (failure rates and reliability along with optimal energy strategy) but also the team spirit and the innovation mindset.”
A Drive to Make It Happen
Carl Brown, a 1995 electrical engineering graduate, turned involvement as the Solar Phantom III’s chief electrical engineer into a career developing production automotive battery packs for hybrid and electric vehicles, along with focusing on battery management systems. He is vice president and general manager with the Dukosi Battery Development Company after working several years with the Ovonic Battery Company (the batteries used by the team in the race).
“I cherish the mission, the camaraderie, and the drive to making it all happen,” he remarked. The team receiving several daily sportsmanship awards during Sunrayce 95, for working to help other teams overcome technical challenges, continues to be a source of pride. “Before the last day of Sunrayce 95 (completed in all-day rain conditions), many competitors plugged in and took the recharging penalty, just to be able to cruise in through the finish line. We kept true to only using the sun to charge, and I am proud of that.”
Brown missed the passion of the Solar Phantom project so much that he started building his own electric car in 2000. “I do miss the days of the Solar Phantom project and the team, when it was all about passion instead of also making a living.”
Jerry Zdenek, a 1995 electrical engineering alum, is still reusing the serial driver queueing code he wrote for the Solar Phantom III’s telemetry system. Jeremy Schoen, PhD, who earned electrical engineering (1999) and engineering management (2004) degrees, showcases the Solar Phantom V’s self-made steering wheel (winning Sunrayce 99’s Innovation in Design Award) as a prop when discussing the advantages of self-guided teams in the organizational leadership class he teaches as an assistant professor of decision sciences and management at Tennessee Technological University’s College of Business.
Meanwhile, Solar Phantom IV team leader/chief mechanical engineer Jonathan Rich, a 1995 mechanical engineering alum, spent 27 years in leadership roles with GM and is now senior manager for body structures with Lucid Motors. Hamilton is the hybrid systems and controls engineering manager at Allison Transmission, working with high-voltage batteries, inverters, DC-DC converters, and motors.
“Reflecting on everything (involving the Solar Phantom experience), I realize that I love projects. I never cared much about homework, but I thrive on building things,” remarked former driver and 1999 mathematics graduate Jim Meyer, director of digital product with SRAM, a bicycle component manufacturer. “Solar Phantom wasn’t just about the car—it was about having a goal, working toward it, and then testing it in the real world. The race gave it stakes; it wasn’t just theoretical … That sense of purpose is what gets me out of bed in the morning. Solar Phantom captured all of that. It shaped what I love to do, and I still chase that same experience in my career today.”
Solar Phantom’s Sunrayce History
Looking back at the team’s performances in the cross country solar car races
GM SUNRAYCE USA – 1990
Orlando to Warren, Michigan
20th Place
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SUNRAYCE 93 – 1993
Dallas to Minneapolis
15th Place
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SUNRAYCE 95 – 1995
Indianapolis to Golden, Colorado
14th Place
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SUNRAYCE 97 – 1997
Indianapolis to Colorado Springs
5th Place
SUNRAYCE 99 – 1999
Washington, D.C. to Orlando
3rd Place
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AMERICAN SOLAR CHALLENGE
2001
Chicago to Los Angeles
8th Place
Solar Phantom Paves Way for Alumni Successes
Several Solar Phantom team alumni have gone onto successful careers within the automotive industry and other fields:
Ken Whitehead (EE, 1990) – Retired Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain and Global Operational Excellence, Eli Lilly
Michael Thoeny (EE, 1989) – President, Flex Automotive
Greg Hubbard (ME, 1994) – Director of Vehicle Mechatronics Embedded Controls, General Motors
Ryan Kingsbury (EE/CPE, 2004) – Co-founder/Chief Technology Officer, Blue Cubed aerospace company
John Buetow (EE/AO, 1990) – President/CEO, Buck Research Instruments
Carl Brown (EE, 1995) – Vice President/General Manager, Dukosi Battery Development Company
Jim Meyer (MA, 1999) – Director of Digital Product, SRAM bicycle component manufacturer
Eric Ward (ME, 1998) – Senior Technical Specialist, Honda
Wes Hamilton (ME, 1996) – Hybrid Systems and Controls Engineering Manager, Allison Transmission
Grant Carpenter (ME, 1999) – Senior Technical Specialist, Honda
Alan Manche (EE, 1991) – Vice President External Affairs, Schneider Electric
Jonathan Rich (ME, 1995) – Senior Manager-Body Structures, Lucid Motors/Former Director with GM
Jeremy Schoen (BSEE, 1999/MSEMGT, 2004), PhD – Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences and Management, Tennessee Technological University
Bob Getts (ME, 1991) – Branch Manager, Controlled Environmental Systems, Inc.
Jerry Zdenek (EE, 1995) -- Lead Hardware Engineer, HP Tuners
Michelle Einhorn (CPE, 2003) – Senior Embedded Software Engineer, Caterpillar