Formula Student is a global engineering competition that involves the design, construction, and development of a single-seater race car, followed by participation in international competitions where both the car's performance and the project management are evaluated. Currently, there are over 600 teams participating in Formula Student from more than 30 different countries across the competition's three categories: Formula Student Electric, Formula Student Combustion, and Formula Student Driverless.

The season began with the goal of designing the CAT10e, the team's fifth electric car. The design phase was completed at the end of November, and now the team is focused on the construction phase. Every part of the new car has been designed not only for improved performance but also to reduce the weight of each component, thus lowering the overall weight of the car.
After verifying that all components were correctly designed and met the strict regulations of the competition, the construction phase of the CAT10e began. This phase will last several months until the new car is ready for track testing. Each component designed by members of ETSEIB Motorsport is built either by team members themselves or with the collaboration of sponsors.  
One of the most critical components of the electric car is the battery, composed of lithium-ion cells. Selecting the correct cells and evaluating the power connections requires highly specialized and expensive equipment. It is at this point that both SETUP ELECTRONICA and ITECH Electronics are collaborating with the team, providing two crucial components for carrying out these tests.

The first component is the IT6942A power supply (programmable, 60V, 15A, and 1mV and 0.1mA resolution). This component allows us to charge the battery modules, controlling the current to cycle the cells correctly.
Once charged, to evaluate the overall performance of the battery, it is necessary to discharge it using different current profiles (constant, current steps, or even the current profile used in the most demanding competition tests). For this, we use the IT8816C, which allows us to better understand the battery's behavior and implement design improvements, all in our laboratory thanks to SETUP Electrónica and ITECH.
 
This summer, ETSEIB Motorsport will compete in Formula Student Germany, Formula Student Austria, and Formula Student Spain, three of the world's most important competitions, which will undoubtedly pose a great challenge for the team.