Join Us
Our Spring 2026 Recruitment Cycle is here! See if Solar Car is the best fit for you and join the team!
Be part of the next generation of engineers.
Solar Car Team at UVA is an Experimental Learning Program which gives students first-hand experience outside the classroom. Students learn how to build a solar car while gaining skills needed for project development and beyond university.
Consider joining us and be a part of our community that challenges ourselves, thinks outside the box, and grows with each other while doing the thing that we love: building solar cars. We have no dues, we accept all majors, and we accept all levels of experience.
Meet:
Rivanna 3
Built in 2025, Rivanna 3 is the third iteration of our flagship solar car. Our new solar car has a new codebase, new suspension, new efficient battery pack, and weighs 30% than our last solar car, Rivanna 2. In the Fall 2025 semester, we designed new subsystems to be implemented onto Rivanna 3. For the Spring 2026 semester, we will be busy manufacturing to perform testing by March.
What to Expect
Attend Our Sunday Meetings
Once you have officially joined the team, we have weekly meetings every Sunday we expect you to attend for about three hours. We operate out of the Observatory Mountain Engineering Research Facility (OMERF), or the Reactor as we affectionally call it (because the facility is a decommissioned nuclear reactor).
Outside of Sunday meetings, we expect you to attend your subteam midweek meetings and do work outside of these meetings.
Learn While Doing
From idea to final product while creating documentation, we will teach it all to you. You will be working on projects directly affecting Rivanna 3. We will give you all the resources and knowledge you need in order to be successful in your role on the team. As long as you are active, engaged, and comfortable trying new things, you will be a perfect fit for the team. If you spend the time with us to learn and ask questions, you will come to love the work that we all share of building Rivanna 3.
Work On One Subteam
Before you join the team, you will have the choice to pick and be placed in a subteam. While you will be mainly working closely with those in your subteam, you will be also collaborating and communicating with other subteams in order to integrate projects on Rivanna 3.
Be Part Of Our Community
Though we are mainly a student-led engineering group, we provide a community to many. Solar Car is a network of more than 80 people! You will make friends with like-minded people from all walks of life. We are people where you can say hi to around Grounds, have conversations with, and ask advice to. We want to support you throughout your time at UVA, and we can all help one another, learn together, laugh together, and grow together.
What Team is the Best Fit for You?
Mechanical
Aerobody & Composites
The Aerobody & Composites sub-team oversees advanced modeling of the car’s composite aeroshell while also performing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and manufacturing.
Chassis
The chassis sub-team designs and manufactures the main structural frame of the car and uses Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to optimize size and weight. The sub-team also oversees driver operations.
Brakes & Steering
The Brakes & Steering sub-team design, fabricate, and test the vehicle’s handling systems, including several braking systems, steering, and the connections to the chassis and suspension.
Suspension
The Suspension sub-team oversees the dynamic systems of the solar car. The sub-team utilizes Computer Aided Design (CAD) to create complex assemblies and maximizes the performance of the solar car.
Electrical
Telemetry
The Telemetry sub-team designs and writes software that collects, transmits, and displays real-time vehicle data.
Embedded
The Embedded sub-team designs, creates, and tests the software that controls the car.
Power & Solar
The Power sub-team designs, fabricates, and tests the battery pack that powers the car. The Solar sub-team designs, manages, and implements the solar array for the car.
Hardware Integration
The Hardware Integration sub-team plans, designs, builds, and refines the PCBs, wiring, and external hardware of the car’s electrical systems.
Operations
Sponsorship
The sponsorships sub-team is responsible for grant writing, finances, coordinating logistics, and sponsorship outreach to secure funding and resources.
Marketing
The Marketing sub-team focuses on creating newsletters to mass send, social media posts, promotions, social events, and Charlottesville outreach.
“A lot of drilling, unscrewing, sanding, scraping, cutting, painting and gluing. But most importantly, a lot of great people.”
— Mark Piatko, Mechanical Director, UVA ‘26
Interested in Joining?
Complete the Interest Form
Thank you for your interest in Solar Car! The first step to join the team is to complete the interest form below. When you complete the form, you will receive information on your assigned subteam, the link to our Discord, and your meeting after the recruitment cycle ends. We look forward to seeing you!
The Interest Form will close on January 30th at 11:59 pm.