Clemson University has unveiled a vehicle prototype designed to generate more energy than it consumes during a typical day of urban commuting. Developed in collaboration with BMW’s research and development team, the Deep Orange 17 integrates solar technology, lightweight engineering, and intelligent vehicle controls to demonstrate that energy-positive mobility is possible.

The concept vehicle is the latest developed through Clemson’s acclaimed Deep Orange program in the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences, where graduate automotive engineering students design, engineer and build a fully functional prototype alongside industry partners. It is the result of a BMW challenge to the graduate students in the fall of 2024 to develop a vehicle that generates more energy than it consumes during everyday driving.

“The idea for Deep Orange 17 with BMW was to create a vehicle that is net energy positive,” said Greg Mocko, Deep Orange Program Director for the School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering at Clemson. “And that’s a big challenge. Creating a net energy positive vehicle means rethinking how vehicles are used.”

Rather than optimizing solely for standardized driving cycles, the team focused on how people use their vehicles every day. Passenger vehicles spend most of their time parked, creating opportunities to harvest solar energy throughout the day. Students also designed the vehicle to capture solar energy while driving, allowing sunlight to become a continuous source of energy generation during use.

The result is a lightweight, solar-integrated coupe designed to generate more energy than it consumes during a typical day of urban commuting. Designed around drivers who value ease of driving, energy efficiency, and reduced dependence on charging infrastructure, the vehicle is said to represent a new approach to sustainable mobility.

“This is a project we’ve wanted to pursue for years, so it’s incredibly rewarding to see this group of students come together over the last two years, overcome so many technical challenges and constraints, and bring an energy-positive vehicle to life,” said Stephan Augustin, Project Manager of Research and New Technologies at BMW.

BMW challenged the Deep Orange team to prove that efficiency doesn’t have to come at the expense of emotional design. The result is a two-door coupe inspired by BMW’s design heritage while embracing a distinctly modern identity. The model’s name reflects both the vehicle’s solar-powered capability and its retro-modern design heritage.

 

Engineered for solar and efficiency

With the goal of being energy positive, the team tackled the challenge by focusing on energy recovery  and energy consumption, said Harsh Manghnani, Solar Integration Lead for the Deep Orange Team at Clemson University.

“We were clear that our focus has to be efficiency and lightweighting. And that is exactly what we focused all our efforts into, where we minimize the energy consumption by lightweighting the project, and also maximize the energy recuperation by maximizing solar area all over the vehicle,” he said. “And we do that by having body panels which have solar cells integrated that help to our cause of energy positivity and energy recuperation.”

Solar power is a core part of the vehicle’s propulsion strategy. More than 1700 photovoltaic cells are integrated into the vehicle’s exterior surfaces, allowing the body to harvest energy while both parked and in motion.

Developed in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), the solar panels use an innovative construction that generates power even when portions of the panels are shaded. They are protected by a durable outer film featuring a distinctive color created through an advanced laser manufacturing process.

To evaluate real-world performance, students modeled environmental conditions and sunlight availability in Greenville, SC; Frankfurt, Germany; Madrid, Spain; and Mumbai, India. Assuming a daily commute of 12 mi (20 km), the vehicle generated enough surplus solar energy to provide an average of 31 mi (50 km) of additional driving range across all four locations.

Beyond the solar integration, students approached every aspect of the Deep Orange 17’s design with efficiency in mind, from aerodynamics and lightweight construction to power electronics and drivetrain controls.

Weighing just 1212 lb (550 kg), the car is about one-fourth the weight of many similarly sized production vehicles. Its multi-material chassis combines structural steel for passenger safety with aluminum components, carbon fiber structural members, and 3D-printed metal joints to maximize strength while minimizing mass.

The vehicle’s exterior draws inspiration from the aerodynamic characteristics of the boxfish, whose streamlined body naturally reduces drag, while maintaining interior volume. That biomimetic approach, paired with retro-modern styling, helped students create a vehicle that is both visually distinctive and highly efficient.

Inside, the vehicle features a custom human-machine interface that provides real-time vehicle telemetry alongside familiar technologies including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, creating a connected driving experience that balances innovation with everyday usability.

Additional technologies, including regenerative braking, intelligent torque distribution, and optimized drivetrain controls, work together to maximize energy recovery and improve overall vehicle performance.

“This was an incredibly challenging project—not only to create a working energy-positive prototype, but to demonstrate how a vehicle can become increasingly energy independent through solar integration,” said Harsh Manghnani, Deep Orange team member and solar integration lead. “Seeing our initial research and design validated in a working prototype has been incredibly rewarding.”

Hardware and software tools from industry partner New Eagle (such as the RCM112 ECU) were used by the student engineering team for model-based powertrain controls, embedded software development, and CAN network integration.

 

Developing the next generation

The concept program demonstrates the educational model that has made Clemson’s Deep Orange program a leader in experiential engineering education as well as the value in having high-profile corporate involvement.

“Hearing BMW as a sponsor for Deep Orange 17 was a huge; it’s a big deal for me,” said Abhay Harinarayanan, Chief Vehicle Engineer for Deep Orange 17. “I’m like, ‘Okay, I have some industrial contacts that I can reach out and learn, too.’ This new concept of a solar hybrid vehicle was entirely new, which I didn’t expect and got me intrigued, and the idea of making something that sounds impossible possible was something that I was really excited to get into.”

Unlike traditional engineering projects, Deep Orange immerses graduate students in the complete vehicle development process. Students conduct market research, define customer needs, develop vehicle concepts, engineer major systems, manufacture components, and validate performance—while working alongside industry engineers and managing real-world budgets, schedules, and technical constraints.

“Deep Orange is a good place where you can learn everything. Premkumar Naikar, Vehicle Dynamics Lead and Controls. “Because in academia, or in classes, you just do the assignments. Here in Deep Orange, I know, ‘Okay, I learned something in the classroom. How can I implement in the actual vehicle?’ I joined Clemson for Deep Orange. And coming from a background in computer science, I wanted to experience automotive engineering to the fullest, and it has given me exactly that.”

The result is an end-to-end vehicle development experience that integrates powertrain engineering, vehicle controls, manufacturing, body design, software, and emerging technologies into a single collaborative project.

“It’s rare for a master’s student to have the opportunity to experience the complete process of developing a prototype vehicle,” said Anshul Karn, Deep Orange Project Manager. “Many engineering programs include courses in areas like digital modeling or marketing, but very few give students the opportunity to begin with a vision, work through the entire development process and ultimately deliver a fully functioning prototype. That experience is what makes Deep Orange so unique.”

The 16 students who developed Deep Orange 17 graduated on August 7 with Master of Science degrees in Automotive Engineering, but the Deep Orange Program Director believes they’ll enter the workforce with far more than a diploma.

“I think once the project is complete and the students have had some time to reflect, they’ll truly appreciate what they’ve accomplished and how much they’ve grown—not only as engineers, but also as individuals and as a team over the past two years,” said Mocko.

Research on the prototype will continue at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) in Greenville, where the vehicle will serve as a platform for continued innovation in sustainable mobility. It is also scheduled to be featured at the 2027 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.