Tesla Sponsors Battery Award for Winners

A 65-member team of Kocaeli University students who designed an electric vehicle and secured battery sponsorship from Tesla are continuing their preparations for the competition in July. Students from Kocaeli University (KOÜ) who won battery sponsorship from US electric vehicle and battery manufacturer Tesla are aiming to place in an international competition in Italy with their developed electric and internal combustion vehicles. The KOÜ-FS team, established in 2015 within the KOÜ Faculty of Engineering and which designed its first internal combustion vehicles in 2017, passed technical inspection in Italy in 2022 with their second internal combustion vehicle KOUFS-02. The 84-kilowatt electric racing vehicle KOUFS-03E designed by the 65-member team working in the university workshop, which reaches 100 kilometers per hour in 2.6 seconds, also won battery sponsorship from Tesla. The team is preparing for the "Formula Student" competition to be held in Italy in July by the International Society of Automotive Engineers with their electric vehicle under development and the 450 cc internal combustion KOUFS-03C with 77 horsepower that reaches 100 kilometers per hour in 3.8 seconds.

"We are progressing toward becoming a world-class team"

Team captain Alper Özay said they believe they will achieve good results with the two vehicles they developed with a large and dynamic team. Noting that Formula Student is the world's most prestigious engineering competition, Özay said, "Our team has 65 people, last year it was 35. We made an impact at the competition in Italy as the first team to pass technical inspection in its first competition. Engineers could hardly believe it was our first vehicle. It was a source of pride for us." Speaking about the battery support they received from Tesla, Özay said, "They wanted our designs for the electric vehicle. They liked our designs and accepted them. Having Tesla as a sponsor is very gratifying. Now we are progressing toward becoming a world-class team, not just in Turkey but worldwide." Expressing that they are very well prepared for the competition in July, Özay continued: "We are building very competitive vehicles. This time we don't just want to pass technical inspection, we want to complete all stages and place in the standings. We want to bring Formula Student competitions to Turkey and attract companies and students from around the world here." Özay noted that they aim to place in the top 200 among world teams and added that they conducted all analyses and designs of the vehicles themselves.

Chose KOÜ for the team

Fatih Tabun, a KOÜ Mechanical Engineering student working in the suspension division of the team, said he chose the university because of the KOÜ-FS team. Noting that he began following the team closely during his high school years, Tabun said, "I was interested in the automotive sector. I can say I came to this school for this team. The work being done was very good." Tabun expressed that he was happy to be on the team, noting that they are building very impressive vehicles with very ambitious goals and that this year both vehicles are very competitive.   Source