Third! ARUS' most innovative electric mobility technology has led to success in the Formula Student competition

The Andalucía Racing Team, from the University of Seville, has been competing in Fórmula Student since 2012 and is made up of 90 students. This is the most prestigious university-level motorsport competition, pitting more than 600 teams around the world against each other in the quest for excellence in engineering, and is considered the launch pad for Formula One. The photo is from this summer and shows our recent success in this competition. We're thrilled to have come in third place in the electric single-seater competition – especially as it's our first time on the podium in an official competition.

Formula Student is a very demanding competition for the teams: every year they are expected to present the latest technology in their vehicles. In 2016, and with 3 combustion cars built so far, the ARUS team made the leap to electric cars. Over the next two years, 2016 and 2017, the team at ARUS designed and built the first electric single-seater car. Thanks to Endesa's sponsorship, they were able to bring their vision to life and produce a working prototype in 2018.

Electromobility is increasingly present in our lives. As engineering students finish up their university studies, they can take their newly acquired knowledge to the companies they work for and help promote electric energy as the main source of energy on our planet. They can also encourage sustainable mobility.

A historic milestone is the culmination of many successful factors, including a good business plan, efficiency, perseverance, speed, and skillset.

The ARUS team's electric car competed in the  Formula Student Italy competition on July 13 at the Riccardo Paletti circuit near Varano in Parma, Italy. Our stay in Italy ended in the best possible way: we placed third overall behind Tallinn University (Estonia) and Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (Germany). The whole team reached an important milestone: for the first time in our 10 years of history, we have been in the top three of a competition.

This was possible because we managed to be in the top three in four of the eight tests in the competition, which are divided into static and dynamic tests. In the static tests, we took first place in the Business Plan Presentation, where we had to present a business proposal that revolved around the single-seater and prove its economic viability beyond the race track. In this case, we presented "Drive to vibe", an automotive competition where each participating team is linked to a world-class singer who only makes an appearance if their team is the winner. The judges of the competition in Italy, who had potential future investors in mind, were very positive about our project. It was the best for its business plan, marketing strategy, financial viability and profitability.

Our car ranked highly on several dynamic tests at the competition. We came second for Efficiency, which measures the single-seater's energy efficiency, and third for Endurance. The endurance test is considered the toughest, with a 22-kilometre race that pushes all the car's components to their limits. Autocross is a speed test consisting of a one-lap circuit designed by the competition, with slaloms and impossible turns that must be completed as quickly as possible - our car performed well on all these measures, coming third.

The most advanced technology, developed and manufactured by university students.

Our success in Italy is proof that we have the most advanced knowledge of electric mobility in Europe. Young people work day and night to research and develop sustainable and efficient automotive components. The high-voltage battery used in our single-seater, for example, was developed and manufactured entirely by us, while other universities buy units which are already manufactured.

The goal of this university project is to improve the performance of our single-seaters. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that every year 90 students from the University of Seville have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge about electromobility that we have been developing with this project since 2016. And Spanish companies will later use this knowledge.

The young people behind this project have put in a lot of hard work and made many sacrifices, but their ambition and determination have shown that Spanish technology is just as good as the much-lauded German variety. They have managed to put the Spanish and Andalusian brands on the European podium, in bronze.