New Challenges for 20-year-old SZEnergy: SZE Team Enters Prototype Category - SZE Alumni

Created: 2026.01.08. 13:40

Last year marked the twentieth anniversary of the SZEnergy Team, the four-time world champion and world record-holding student competition team dedicated to developing the world’s most energy-efficient vehicle. To celebrate the occasion, a large-scale event was recently organised to recall the emblematic moments of the team’s history, while also presenting the plans for this year’s car.

In 2005, a group of mechanical engineering student of Széchenyi István University decided to seek challenges beyond the classroom. Under the leadership of lecturer Dr Zoltán Varga, began building an alternatively powered vehicle for the “Széchenyi Race”. The rest, as they say, is history. Making its debut under the name SZEnergy, the team won the solar-powered category of the Shell Eco-marathon, and in 2022 reached the pinnacle of success by outperforming the field with a world record in the urban concept category – a feat they have since repeated on three further occasions.

To mark the twentieth anniversary of its foundation, the team complemented its traditional event, known as the design freeze, with a retrospective programme. All previous generations of SZEnergy vehicles were showcased on site, alongside the team’s extensive trophy collection.

“The fundamental mission of the university is to prepare its students for successful professional careers,” said Professor Dr Ferenc Friedler, Rector and Vice-President for Scientific Affairs of the University, in his welcome speech. He added that the team not only consistently remains at the forefront of international competition, but also achieves results that significantly surpass those of its rivals. This, he noted, indicates the presence of exceptional expertise and a strong capacity for continuous renewal. “Perhaps this is the secret ingredient of its success,” he concluded.

The first round-table discussion focused on the period of SZEnergy’s foundation. “Dr Zoltán Varga was the first person at our University to introduce the ‘learning by doing’ methodology, realising that, on the one hand, practice is where one can learn the most from theory, and on the other, that a competitive situation provides a natural incentive to deepen one’s knowledge. At the time, as a young lecturer, I supported the core group of the team, which later evolved into SZEnergy,” recalled Dr Ferenc Szauter, Head of the Department of Defence Innovation and Critical Infrastructures and the Automotive Industry Research Centre.

“After the ‘Széchenyi Race’, I felt that we needed to move on to the international stage. That was when I discovered the solar-powered category of the Shell Eco-marathon. We could never have imagined, even in our dreams, that we would win the competition at our very first attempt, in 2008. That gave the team enormous momentum,” noted Dr Zoltán Varga.

“In 2010, we managed to repeat the success of 2008, but shortly afterwards the solar-powered category was discontinued, which resulted in a temporary setback. We then entered the Urban Concept category with a battery-powered vehicle. After many years of persistent work and countless developments, we finally reached the point where, in 2022, the team became world champion again,” added Dr Dániel Pup, Scientific Coordinator of the Automotive Industry Research Centre, who as a founding member has continued to actively support the team’s work.

Dr Tamás Kolossváry, moderator of the discussion, Dr Ferenc Szauter, Dr Zoltán Varga and Dr Dániel Pup (Photo: Máté Dudás)

The subsequent panel discussion examined the SZEnergy Team’s more recent years and presented the process that led to its successes. This was perhaps best illustrated by Zoltán Zámbó, former head of the mechanical division and pilot, who explained that at first two multimeters were taped to the side of the car, and consumption and charging data had to be monitored manually. Over time, however, continuous technological development gradually relieved the pilot of this demanding task.

“The biggest leap forward was the debut of the car named SZEmission in 2019; even today we continue to compete with a modified version of this car,” revealed Dr Zoltán Pusztai, research engineer at the Automotive Industry Research Centre and former team leader.

“Significant progress has also been made in terms of infrastructure over the years,” emphasised the importance of the University background by former team leader Máté Miklós. “The Multifunctional Building was completed in 2017, where we were provided with dedicated laboratory space. This was later complemented by advanced equipment and a tool park that made it possible for us to assemble a self-supporting body vehicle. The supportive role of the University is therefore crucial, but without our other sponsors and partners we would not be able to achieve results either – just think of the extensive machining, testing or even travel costs, as we often had to travel to England or the Netherlands,” he pointed out.

Dr Tamás Kolossváry, moderator of the discussion, Dr Zoltán Pusztai, Zoltán Zámbó and Máté Miklós. (Photo: Balázs Miklós)

Following the panel discussions, the team presented its developments for this year. From a mechanical engineering perspective, the most important of these is the implementation of regenerative braking, meaning that the car will be able to utilise the energy generated during braking. Also worth mentioning is the replacement of the aluminium pedal box with a carbon composite version, which increases the vehicle’s reliability while also reducing its weight. These developments were presented by István Madarász, Head of the Mechanical Division.

Two solutions were developed for the implementation of regenerative braking, and the more advantageous one will be integrated into the final vehicle, revealed István Madarász (Photo: Balázs Miklós)

“Our route optimisation software has played a major role in the successes of recent years, as by modelling the vehicle and the track we were able to determine the speed curve corresponding to optimal consumption. In the current season, we plan to further develop this, so that the vehicle dynamics model would run live on-board during driving, enabling us to achieve an even better energy balance than at present,” explained András Timár, Head of the Electronics Division, who also reported on additional developments, including the replacement of the lights and the implementation of an online telemetry system.

“We are reviewing our current telemetry panel to achieve a better data connection,” stated András Timár (Photo: Balázs Miklós)

The autonomous – or “self-driving” – division is responsible for implementing autonomous functions. The team’s aim is to replace the existing hardware system, which could reduce consumption by up to 25 per cent and lead to a more easily installable panel. “From a software perspective, the most important task is the development of our road segmentation model. At present, we only detect drivable and non-drivable road surfaces, but in the future additional classes will be introduced, and we will be able to detect the edge of the track and lane markings, allowing for more precise route planning,” emphasised Szabolcs Halir, Head of the Division.

Szabolcs Halir added that the goal of the autonomous developments is not only more efficient obstacle avoidance, but also the reduction of energy consumption (Photo: Balázs Miklós)

Veronika Végső, Head of the Marketing Division, reported that the team had a very successful year on social media, reaching a large audience with their posts on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Veronika Végső spoke about the marketing division’s achievements this year (Photo: Balázs Miklós)

The announcement defining the team’s new direction was saved until the end of the event. Team leader Bence Novák explained that, in order to support the further professional development of team members, they are seeking new challenges – for which an excellent opportunity is provided by a rule change in the Shell Eco-marathon, allowing a team to compete in two categories. Taking advantage of this, alongside the existing urban concept, the team has also begun developing a prototype vehicle, which will have to meet entirely different regulations.

“This car will be much more streamlined, with three wheels, and the pilot will drive it in a lying rather than a seated position. We need to design the vehicle to be even more efficient, and from an electronics perspective we are facing a particularly complex task. Our plan is to compete with this car at the Shell Eco-marathon as early as 2027,” concluded the team leader.

Bence Novák underlined that the concept shown in the image is not the final design, but it does indicate the intended direction (Photo: Balázs Miklós)

Gallery of the event (Photos: Máté Dudás)

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