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 students for leadership roles through real-world design and building experience.

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

Meet The Subsystems

Chassis is responsible for the structural foundation and body of the vehicle. They design and weld the steel frame in-house. They utilize carbon fiber and fiberglass to create composite aerodynamic shells.
Controls manages all low-voltage systems. This includes interfacing the accelerator pedal with the motor controller, as well as implementing systems for turn signals, lights, cruise control, and windshield wipers.
Driver Interface is responsible for the steering system, cockpit mounting, and driver safety. They communicate with Chassis, Propulsion & Controls, and Unsprung to integrate components into the cockpit.
Together, Finance & Marketing make up the business sector of Hot Wheelz. Finance manages the team’s budget, purchases vehicle components, and helps coordinate sponsors. Marketing is responsible for promoting the team on social media, apparel, organizing university events, and overseeing other outreach initiatives.
Propulsion is responsible for the design, assembly, and manufacturing of the vehicle’s high voltage systems, including the batteries, motor, motor controller, and battery management system. They are also in charge of mounting and maintaining the solar panels.
Unsprung is responsible for the vehicle’s braking and suspension systems. They design, validate, and manufacture uprights, a-arms, hubs, and calipers in-house.
Vehicle Dynamics is responsible for the simulation engineering of the car. This includes creating lap time simulations, crash simulations, and conducting Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling of the entire vehicle.

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 embarking on a new chapter in our team's history, venturing into the realm of solar-powered race cars. Our primary objective is to optimize efficiency by minimizing both weight and drag.
The team will manufacture the chassis and essential components, followed by the integration of all parts. Upon completion, the vehicle will undergo rigorous drive testing to ensure optimal performance. The ultimate goal is to qualify for the Formula Sun Grand Prix track event in Summer 2023.

We are embarking on a new chapter in our team's solar car history. We have recently received a used car from Anderson University, and our goal is to prepare it for competition. This involves repairing both the steel chassis and the outer shells, then integrating them into a fully functional solar vehicle.
Integrating components onto the chassis and preparing the vehicle for electrical integration are currently underway. These steps are essential in readying the car for upcoming test drives. The ultimate goal is to qualify for the Formula Sun Grand Prix track event in Summer 2025.