Endesa sponsors the first autonomous vehicle in Andalusia developed by ARUS Andalucía Racing Team

Endesa and ARUS (Andalucía Racing Team) signed the renewal of the sponsorship agreement with the University of Seville automobile team, which faces one of its greatest challenges this season: competing for the first time in Formula Student with a vehicle. autonomous created and developed by the University's own students.

Miguel Ángel Castro Arroyo, rector of the University of Seville, Rafael Sánchez Durán, general director of Endesa in Andalusia, Extremadura, Ceuta and Melilla, Andrés Sáez Pérez, director of the Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of Seville, Jesús Muñuzuri Sanz , managing director of the Andalusian Industrial Research and Cooperation Association, AICIA, and Pedro García Macías, team manager of ARUS Andalucía Racing Team, have been in charge of ratifying this sponsorship. 

“In 2018, Endesa decided to support the ARUS Andalucía Racing Team to develop the first electric car, in our commitment to sustainable mobility. Six years later, we continue to support the talent of young university students from the University of Seville who are now taking a step further by developing this first autonomous single-seater prototype in Andalusia. This milestone shows the importance of public-private collaboration to achieve a sustainable future,” said Rafael Sánchez Durán, during the signing ceremony.

In this sense, Andrés Sáez Pérez, director of the Higher Technical School of Engineering at the University of Seville, has stressed that “collaboration with Endesa is very important for Arus Team, since it has to provide solutions to real problems with limited budgets and with the inconvenience of designing an elite product by renewing its team every two years.” 

“ARUS Team is going to transform your lives, it is going to allow you to achieve very important goals and that is what I value most,” said Miguel Ángel Castro Arroyo, rector of the University of Seville, addressing the students present at the event.

The signed agreement will allow the development of the first autonomous vehicle in Andalusia, which will also compete in the Formula Student, the most important international engineering competition of these characteristics, which is why it represents a milestone for the developers of this single-seater who have been working on the vehicle design from last year.

This is another commitment by Endesa to sustainable mobility as a key tool to move towards an energy model without emissions, fight against climate change and electrify transport in our country. "Our goal is to expand the electric vehicle charging infrastructure and develop advanced charging technologies and flexible solutions to improve the customer experience," the company said.

Boost to a great project

Endesa's collaborative relationship with the University of Seville's automobile team, ARUS Andalucía Racing Team, began in 2018, when the team made the leap to the development of an electric single-seater, the ART-18E. The energy company became one of the main drivers of the project, providing cells and other elements related to batteries that considerably accelerated the transition process to the electric vehicle. In the 2019 season, Endesa continued to be one of the main sponsors of ARUS, also organizing a networking event with other companies sponsoring the team and some that, without being sponsors, discovered the potential of the project with this event and decided to give their support to it. .  

Since then, Endesa has maintained its relationship with ARUS, allowing, thanks to this collaboration, the development of new vehicle prototypes, such as the one that the team from the University of Seville has brought to the Endesa headquarters. The car that competed in 2023 in the Formula Student and was among the TOP 15 in competitions such as the one in Holland, where the team also took second place in the Business Plan.

ARUS Andalucía Racing Team Career

The team was born in 2012 at the Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of Seville (ETSI), at the initiative of a group of engineering students interested in the world of automotive. In 2014, ARUS Andalucía Racing Team competes for the first time with its first combustion car. Until 2018, a new car is designed and manufactured every year, and that same year is when, for the first time, they also present an electric vehicle. They thus become the first and only Spanish team to compete in Formula Student in two categories simultaneously.  

In 2022 the team achieves two historic milestones, a third place in the world in Italy and consolidating itself as the best team in the Business Plan test with two first places in the electric and combustion category, something that no team has achieved.

In 2023 ARUS takes a new leap, abandoning the combustion category and starting a major innovation and technology project three years from now: participating in the Driverless category, developing a carbon fiber monocoque and incorporating 4 Wheel Drive technology (one engine on each wheel). The team currently finds itself in that framework. For this 2023/24 season, ARUS Andalucía Racing Team will present the first fully developed autonomous vehicle in all of Andalusia and advances in the other two innovation improvements are growing day by day.

About Endesa

Endesa is a leading electricity company in Spain and the second in Portugal. In addition, it is the second gas operator in the Spanish market. Develops an integrated electricity generation, distribution and marketing business. It also offers, through Endesa Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and, as such, decisively promotes the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power Spain, the digitalization of networks through e-distribution, and corporate social responsibility. In this last area, the Endesa Foundation also acts. The company's human team totals around 9,260 employees. Endesa is part of Enel, the largest electricity group in Europe.