On Thursday, June 27, everything will revolve around the drives of the future on the banks of the Main in Sachsenhausen. Under the motto "Sun moves!", dedicated schoolchildren will be competing for speed and creativity with their self-constructed solar-powered vehicles for the 15th time. Around 800 children and young people from Frankfurt and the surrounding area have studied the possibilities and opportunities of solar drive technology in class and are now presenting their ideas for sustainable mobility in the city.
13 elementary school and eleven secondary schools are taking part in this year's solar race with a total of 800 pupils - the younger ones with self-built solar boats, the older ones with solar-powered cars.
Almost 200 boats are expected to take part in the solar boat regatta. 230 solar cars will compete on the race courses. For the qualifying races, model car race tracks and an impressive water basin will be set up on Sachsenhausen's Walther-von-Cronberg-Platz. At the repair table, people are gluing and soldering at lightning speed to get vehicles that have been damaged in transit ready to start again. During the race breaks, the pupils experiment at one of the numerous hands-on stations of Environmental Learning in Frankfurt: Veggie sausages steam on the solar stove, next door artistic color discs are created on the solar color spinner, and at the Kokel stand pupils burn a sun into wooden discs with magnifying glasses. At the creative tent, all participants will also have the opportunity to vote for the best vehicle in the VGF audience award.
At the end of the event, the fastest and most impressive vehicles will be awarded prizes. Robert Jakob from Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main (VGF) and Claus Lauth from the City of Frankfurt's Climate Department will present the certificates to the beaming winners of the individual competition categories.
"The solar race is more than just a competition - the event invites the participating schools to engage intensively and creatively with the future topics of renewable energies and the energy transition in class," explains Lauth. Monika Krocke from Umweltlernen in Frankfurt adds: "The pupils not only acquire key knowledge about sustainable energy production, they also experience their own ability to act and the joy of creating something together with others."
The event takes place in the context of the energy saving program for Frankfurt schools of the city education authority and is made possible by VGF and the climate department. The solar race is organized by the association Umweltlernen in Frankfurt.
