August 13, 2025

The world’s toughest solar car challenge

Henkel supports student project “Sonnenwagen” 

Düsseldorf – Solar-powered across the Australian Outback: In just over a week, the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge will kick off in Australia. This international competition, held since 1987, brings together teams from around the world to race self-built, solar-powered vehicles across the continent. It is considered the toughest test of its kind globally. Among the participants is a student team from Aachen, Germany – and high-performance adhesives from Henkel.

Top performance for demanding applications
Covering around 3,000 kilometers, the solar car named “Aethon” will travel from Darwin in the north to Adelaide in the south of Australia at the end of August. This required top-tier engineering from the racing team, which consists of students from RWTH and FH Aachen. Henkel has been a sponsor of the project since this year, supporting the team with structural adhesives for bonding various mechanical components, high-performance materials for manufacturing carbon parts, threadlockers, and repair adhesives to minimize downtime during the race.

Henkel’s adhesive technologies are held to the highest performance standards. For example, Henkel’s threadlockers ensure that all chassis component screws can withstand the vehicle’s intense vibrations. In addition, the solar car is made predominantly of ultra-light carbon fibers, which make the vehicle aerodynamic, lightweight – and therefore particularly efficient. To manufacture these carbon components, Henkel supports the process with adhesive technologies that bond the finished carbon fiber parts together. All products provided by Henkel to team Sonnenwagen are standard in the automotive industry and other sectors.

“There is a strong overlap between the team’s ideas and Henkel’s,” says Sjoerd Dijkstra, Director Sustainability Strategy & Excellence at Henkel Adhesive Technologies.
“Through our partnership, we aim to support young talents and, of course, showcase the performance and sustainability of our solutions in demanding applications across key industrial sectors. We see this project as an ideal innovation platform for forward-looking adhesive technologies in the automotive industry.”

About Henkel
With its brands, innovations and technologies, Henkel holds leading market positions worldwide in the industrial and consumer businesses. The business unit Adhesive Technologies is the global leader in the market for adhesives, sealants and functional coatings. With Consumer Brands, the company holds leading positions especially in laundry & home care and hair in many markets and categories around the world. The company's three strongest brands are Loctite, Persil and Schwarzkopf. In fiscal 2024, Henkel reported sales of more than 21.6 billion euros and adjusted operating profit of around 3.1 billion euros. Henkel’s preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX. Sustainability has a long tradition at Henkel, and the company has a clear sustainability strategy with specific targets. Henkel was founded in 1876 and today employs a diverse team of about 47,000 people worldwide – united by a strong corporate culture, shared values and a common purpose: "Pioneers at heart for the good of generations.” More information at www.henkel.com 

Photo material is available at www.henkel.com/press

Contact	Sina Pfanschilling	Sebastian Hinz
Phone	+49 211 797-99 04	+49 211 797-58 94
Email	sina.pfanschilling@henkel.com	sebastian.hinz@henkel.com

Henkel AG & Co. KGaA