Event Year: 2025 Event Location: Orange County STEM Saturday Competition: Junior Solar Sprint Division: 4-6 (JSS Green) School: Dommerich Elementary Team Name: Turbo Panda! Project Name: Turbo Panda Team Size: 2
☝️ 🐼 Check out our Team Video! 🐼 👆
Our Team
🌿 Team Name: Turbo Panda
🌿 School Name: Dommerich Elementary
🌿 Location: Maitland, Florida
🌿 Team Members: Leja Davis & Kennedy Edmonson (5th Grade)
🌿 Purpose: Pandas are gentle, calm animals. Using a panda as a mascot for our solar car suggests that solar energy is peaceful, safe, eco-friendly, and good for the planet. Also, pandas need healthy forests to survive. Solar energy reduces pollution and helps preserve their habitats. So, a panda is a symbol of protecting nature through solar energy.
Besides, we love these cuddly cute animals!
Documentation
🌿 Project Log
Time
Activity
10/18/2025
Read the instructions and rules, cut out all pieces, gathered tools needed
10/19/2025
Built the car
10/20/2025
Completed the first test run, and it was a success
11/01/2025
Brainstormed potential theme ideas
11/03/2025
Painted the solar car and complete the design
11/08/2025
Started to log all details in the Energywhiz website
11/15/2025
Wrote the script for the video
11/22/2025
Filmed the video and completed more test runs
11/23/2025
Edit the video and added the missing information to Energywhiz website
Design, Drawings, & Pictures
🌿 Measurements:
Hight: 9.4 cm
Length : 27 cm
Gears: 2×40-tooth, 2 mm bore; 2×10-tooth 1/8″ bore
Weight: 239 g, with a Ping-Pong- 242 g
🌿 Materials:
8 bamboo sticks (recycled)
3 inch half Styrofoam half ($1)
Hot glue (recycled)
White zinc titanium and black paint (recycled)
Black sharpie (recycled)
Cardboard (recycled)
Total Cost: $1
Test Results
Vehicle Test Information
Test 1| Solar
Test 2| Solar
Test 3| Solar
Test 4 | Battery
Test 5 | Battery
Weather
sunny
sunny
sunny
under shaded trees
under shaded trees
Date & Time of Day
12:30 PM
12:35 PM
12:40 PM
12 PM
12:05 PM
Distance Traveled
36 ft 7 in
23 ft 21 in
21 ft 10 in
65ft 2 inches
47ft 12 inches
Time Elapsed
9 sec
7 sec
7.12 sec
11.11 sec
8.18 sec
Speed
2.77 mph
2.41 mph
2.13 mph
4 mph
4 mph
Comments about Performance
Ping-Pong fell off the car
car was veering left due to slope of sidewalk
car fell off sidewalk again
went fast, even if the sidewalk was uneven
the car went super fast, ran into the tape measure
Ideas for Improving the Car
add more hot glue
adjust axles and wheels
needs repairs after repeated crashes off the sidewalk
