ISSUE 011 Autumn 2021 Candela C-7 hydrofoil speedboat dossier l In conversation: Robert Hoevers l Battery recycling focus l Vehicle dynamics insight l ZeroAvia hydrogen-electric aircraft digest l Motor materials

Squad Mobility’s CEO tells Rory Jackson the story behind developing the company’s solar-powered urban runabout Solar Flair A lthough DC fast charging and hydrogen refuelling are gaining in popularity for quickly replenishing EV energy stores, considerable infrastructural investment is needed if sufficient charging stations and hydrogen supply points are to be made available for consumers and commercial fleets. While solar panels are a relative rarity among the technologies being adapted for e-mobility, solar-electric powertrains can be charged wherever there is sunlight, without needing to be plugged in – potentially making them much more convenient than the more infrastructurally dependent battery-electric and hydrogen EVs. This ease of charging is one reason that Robert Hoevers, CEO of Netherlands-based Squad Mobility, has led his team to develop the solar- powered Squad Solar City Car over the past few years. The Squad is a two-seater road vehicle reminiscent of a golf cart. It has a panel of solar cells on its cabin roof, and has been designed to be used as an easy-access ride-sharing platform similar to the e-scooters and e-bikes proliferating throughout the urban centres of the world. While the EV looks simple at first glance, Hoevers (along with his co- founder Chris Klok) has led the design and engineering of the Squad by drawing on experiences and positions held across not only e-mobility companies but racing organisations and IC-engine automotive OEMs as well. “When I was in middle school, my older brother bought a Yamaha XT off-roading motorcycle, a bike I still love to this day. He picked me up from school on it, and that was the first time I remember really wanting to spend my life making vehicles that moved fast,” Hoevers says. Indeed, the years following his university education in Industrial Design Engineering at Delft were spent on a variety of different road and race vehicle projects. The road to e-mobility Hoevers’ turning point towards electric powertrains came in 2009, when he founded EPowerGP, one of the organisations that would ultimately lead to setting up Formula E. “Working at EPowerGP taught me a lot about what you can actually do with electric drivetrains, how different people want to change or configure them and The Squad Solar City car is charged at up to 250 W by a monocrystalline silicon solar panel on its roof (Courtesy of Squad Mobility) 16 Autumn 2021 | E-Mobility Engineering