Orange Belgium becomes the Golden Connectivity partner of the Agoria Solar Team

Orange Belgium is strongly committed to operating as a responsible and sustainable telecom operator, multiplying efforts to reduce its energy consumption and environmental impact. It is therefore proud to announce it now supports the Agoria Solar Team, a squad of engineering students competing with other teams around the globe to build the most innovative and efficient solar car and showcase the potential of renewable energy. Orange Belgium has pledged financial and connectivity support for 2 years.

Over the next two years, as the Golden Connectivity partner, Orange Belgium will sponsor the upgrade of their BluePoint vehicle and provide technical support and advice to help the vehicles communicate with each other and with the team. Moreover, Orange Belgium will help the team harvest interesting data on their performance, enabling them to fine-tune their configurations and race strategies.

A major race on the legendary circuit of Zolder

 This collaboration will be put to the test as early as tomorrow, with the Agoria Solar Team participating in the race of the iLumen European Solar Challenge on the prestigious former F1 circuit of Zolder in Belgium. A major challenge, the race is regarded as the unofficial European championship for solar vehicles. In this 24h-race the vehicles face serious obstacles, such as the (unpredictable) Belgian weather but also night time racing, with only two stops allowed to recharge the batteries. This race therefore requires a well-defined strategy, which Orange Belgium’s technical support will facilitate.

For the first time in its history, the Agoria Solar Team will enter two vehicles, the Bluepoint and the Punch 2, in order to compete with some twenty other teams from across Europe. Because of the Covid pandemic, the event is not open to the public but it can still be followed digitally via the online platforms of the Agoria Solar Team. The next major race will be the Sasol Solar Challenge in South Africa in February 2021.

Xavier Pichon, CEO of Orange Belgium, comments: “We are extremely proud to support this team of youngsters, whose project and ideal completely fits with our vision of technology: using innovation to strive for a better, sustainable world. The Agoria Solar Team also showcases the strength of Belgium’s innovation and engineering skills, and could inspire new generations to opt for a career in STEM. The team won first place in both the Carrera Solar Atacama in Chile in 2018 and the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia in 2019, so we wish them all the best and hope they can make it a triple at home, in their race in Zolder”