Who We Are

Hot Wheelz is a student-run organization dedicated to the enrichment of the RIT students’ education by offering one of the best ways to apply teamwork and special skills. From engineering to marketing, we are a Solar Racing Team that has something to offer everyone.

We are dedicated to professionalism, mentorship, experiential learning and preparing women for leadership roles through real world design and building experience.

Our team aims to provide women with the tools to learn and explore possibilities for future employment in all industries.

Meet The Subsystems

Chassis is in charge of the overall body of the vehicle. This includes the top and bottom shells, bulkhead layer, canopy, hinges, windshield wipers, roll cage, and license plate mounts.
Driver Interface is in charge of the drivers comfort and control. This includes the steering system, seat, ballast boxes, NACA Intake Vent, mirrors, cameras, and water storage components.
Finance and Marketing are in charge of promoting the team and managing the budget. This includes coordinating with sponsors, purchasing material, advertising and coordinating events, and other outreach activities.
Propulsion is in charge of providing the energy to the car and transforming it into forward motion for the car. This includes the design, mounting, and integration of the batteries, solar panels and motor.
Controls is in charge of all low voltage components and their mounting methods. These include the multiple safety systems, lighting, wiring, and the corresponding item schematics.
Wheelz is in charge of the suspension and wheel assembly. This includes the wheels, bearings and hubs, brake assemblies, shocks, control arms, and other suspension components.

Where We Came From

The Hot Wheelz Electric Vehicle Team was founded by a few female engineering students, an enthusiastic advisor, and a vision to compete in an on-campus electric vehicle competition. In our first year as a team, we took 1st place out of 12 teams in an electric dragster race.
The next competition required us to redesign a “Power Wheels” vehicle with the goal to complete as many laps as possible in an hour. We placed 3rd out of 15 teams and won an Innovation award.
The last competition’s focus was on having speed and maneuverability to complete the course in the fastest time. We placed 3rd out of 12 teams.

We designed a brand new electric race car from scratch with the goal of building and racing the car in 2016.
In our first year at this new competition, we placed 3rd in the Electric Drive Class and received two professionalism awards: the General Motors Spirit of Formula Hybrid Award and the Fiat Chrysler Gracious Professionalism Award.
After a summer of research and a fall of design, we rebuilt our car from a bare frame with new batteries, a sleeker body, improved mechanical systems, telemetry, and more. We competed again at Formula Hybrid in May 2017 and this time took 1st place in the Electric Drive Class and received IEEE’s Excellence in Electric Vehicle Engineering Award.

Using our existing knowledge of electric vehicles we created a series hybrid Formula-styled car. We competed in May 2018 and placed 3rd overall in the Hybrid Category. We also received 2nd place for the Test Equity and Keysight Technologies Hit the Ground Running Award in recognition of our organization and overall readiness for competition.

We worked to build a parallel hybrid Formula- style car and placed 4th overall in the Hybrid Category. We also received the Test Equity and Keysight Technologies Award for Project Presentation and the IEEE Excellence in Project Management Award.
We returned back to our roots and worked to design an electric Formula-style car, utilizing the existing chassis from 2019. In May 2020, we placed 1st overall in the Electric Category, placing 1st in Project Management and 2nd in Design.

We are beginning a new chapter in our team’s history and entering the world of solar powered race cars. Our goal is to maximize efficiency by reducing weight and drag.
Manufacturing of the chassis and key components, followed by integration of all parts and drive testing. The goal is to compete in the Formula Sun Gran Prix qualifier track event in Summer 2023