High hopes for Greenpower in Poland

As a part of the event, young people design, build and race fully functioning electric cars — a fun and inspiring project which helps young people to form a link between education and industry.

Greenpower was launched in the UK in 1999 and has since expanded to Spain, China, the USA and Poland. The inaugural Polish Greenpower race was held in September 2016 and the event returns for a second year to build on its success.

Renishaw’s Greenpower team has ranked extremely well in the UK, however the race in Poznan marks its first international event. The team is taking three of its electric cars, two of which have been extensively reworked since the 2016 season ended and one that is brand new. The UK team has already built a relationship with a local team from Silesian University, Gliwice, at previous races, with the University having visited Renishaw’s UK headquarters.

“The Poznan race gives us the opportunity to meet new people, learn from other teams and consider different approaches to designing the cars,” explained Tom Lawson, Technical Apprentice and Greenpower team member at Renishaw.

“We’ve won numerous awards for our innovation and have been making incremental improvements to the cars since we first raced. It will be interesting to see what other teams bring to the race. Hopefully we can learn from them and benchmark for the upcoming season.”

“Poland boasts an extremely strong automotive industry, which is developing all the time,” explained Tomasz Rżysko, General Manager Renishaw Sp. z o.o. “This makes Poland an ideal location for Greenpower, as it helps to develop technical and engineering skills among young people to further the rapidly advancing industry. Poznan itself is home to automotive manufacturers such a Volkswagen and has a strong technical university, which makes it a natural fit for the race itself.”