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The Fractus-UPC Deep Tech Hub supports the new electric and autonomous vehicle of the BCN eMotorsport student team

As part of the actions of the Fractus-UPC Deep Tech Hub, Fractus supports the BCN eMotorsport team, made up of students from the Barcelona Technical School of Industrial Engineering (ETSEIB) and the Barcelona Technical School of Telecommunication Engineering (ETSETB) of the UPC and which will compete, next summer, in the Formula Student, the biggest university motoring event. It is a competition in which engineering students from all over the world participate by designing and building a Formula 1 style car to pass various tests.

December 18, 2024.  This year, Fractus is supporting the design of the new BCN eMotorsport vehicle, one of the student teams from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) that competes in Formula Student. Made up of students from ETSEIB and ETSETB, the team announced, on December 18 at Parc del Fòrum, the innovations of the new electric and autonomous vehicle it is developing, called CAT17x and with which it will participate in the next Formula Student season, the summer of 2025. 

Carmen Borja, CTO of Fractus, commented: “At Fractus we are deeply committed to the drive for technological innovation and young talent. Our support for the BCN eMotorsport team, through the Fractus-UPC Deep Tech Hub, reflects our commitment to fostering projects that integrate creativity, advanced engineering and sustainability. We are very proud to be part of this initiative and hope to continue promoting the talent and excellence that distinguish both the UPC and Formula Student.”

During the meeting they also exhibited the vehicle with which they competed last season, the CAT16x, which won the competition in the autonomous mode in Formula Student Spain, at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit, in addition to participating in other European circuits.

The Parc del Fòrum is the space where students do tests with the vehicles, before the competitions, following the collaboration agreement between BSM and the BCN eMotorsport team.

The event was attended by Fractus representatives, as well as team managers and academic and institutional representatives, such as Albert del Río, Team Leader of BCN eMotorsport; Francesc Rey, deputy director of ETSETB Business Relations; Vicente de Medina, general director of the Formula Student BCN eMotorsport project, and Xavier Castellsagué, head of Endolla Barcelona, ​​representing BSM.

BCN eMotorsport, the first Spanish team to design and manufacture an electric single-seater

In 2007, a group of 13 students from the UPC's ETSEIB created the first Formula Student team in Spain under the name of ETSEIB Motorsport. The CAT01 was the first combustion car that started the history of this team. Over time, the team grew in knowledge and made great strides on a university, national and international scale.

Always looking to adapt to technological changes and be pioneers, in 2012 they made the leap towards electric mobility. They were the first Spanish team to design and manufacture an electric single-seater, the CAT05e. In 2018, the Driverless UPC team was founded, the first in Spain to develop an autonomous vehicle for Formula Student.

The 2020-2021 season was key in the team's history. The German benchmark competition announced that, from 2022, teams would have to design a single single-seater capable of competing in both manual and autonomous modes. In response, the ETSEIB Motorsport and Driverless UPC teams were unified under the name BCN eMotorsport. After two successful seasons with the first merged cars, the CAT14x and CAT15x, the design of the CAT16x was consolidated, scoring great points in Formula Student Spain and achieving a historic milestone for the team: winning the competition in the mode autonomous Currently, the manufacture of the CAT17x has begun, with mechanical and electrical innovations that continue the team's path of excellence.

Last season, BCN eMotorsport competed in three of the most prestigious competitions in Europe: Formula Student Austria, at the prestigious Red Bull Ring; the Formula Student Spain, at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya; and the Formula Student Germany, at the Hockenheimring.

The biggest university car event

Formula Student was born in 1981 and is the most prestigious engineering competition in the world, in which engineering students from all over the world participate in different tests with a Formula 1 style vehicle that they design and build themselves,

Catalonia has eight teams that compete in the Formula Student, most of them from the UPC. Currently, the competition foresees two categories: combustion and electric. In both, you can participate in autonomous mode or without a pilot.

The competition is divided into static tests (Engineering Design, Cost & Manufacturing, Business Plan) and dynamic tests (Acceleration, Skidpad, Autocross, Trackdrive, Endurance, Efficiency). The winning team is the one that obtains the highest score in the sum of all these tests.