In the regulations of the Aeolus Race there is an official definition of a wind powered vehicle, which is as follows:

• A land-based vehicle that drives on wheels and is controlled by a driver
• Storage of energy allowed, storage device must be empty at start (verifiable). Batteries for purposes other than the direct production of driving power such as sensors, actuators and communication means do not have to be empty.

This definition is very general, which means that a wide variety of vehicle concepts and philosophies exist. These differ in terms of number and arrangement of rotors, drive train concept and wheel arrangement.

The locomotion of a wind powered vehicle results from a special feature of aerodynamics. While the power gained from a wind rotor is proportional to the cube of the incident flow, the resistance forces of rotor thrust and aerodynamic resistance are only proportional to the square of the incident flow.
The inflow velocity is calculated from the sum of wind and travel speed. For this reason, the highest speed can be driven when the vehicle is moving against the wind.

To reduce the power dissipation, the vehicle mass can be reduced, for example.
The vehicles of Team InVentus therefore consist to a large extent of fibre-reinforced materials and aluminium. The monocoque, the rear fairing, the tower, parts of the chassis and the containment of the rotor were all made of composite materials.
In cooperation with the Institute of Aircraft Design of the University of Stuttgart, the team is able to carry out all common processing methods for fibre-reinforced composites. Students thus gain valuable practical experience in the use of fiber composite materials.

Aerodynamics refers above all to a streamlined and thus low-resistance vehicle shape. The two most important measures are

• the reduction of the resistance coefficient and
• the smallest possible fuselage cross-section.

Team InVentus therefore took a closer look at glider construction and "designed" the fuselage around a glider hood. The struts of the front suspension, the rear axle cover and other components which are freely in the flow have, as far as possible, low-resistance wing profiles.

Even a purely mechanically driven vehicle cannot function without electronics. Precise sensors are required to measure wind speed and direction. The data is evaluated using Arduinos and other microcomputers so that the driver can always see the current data. The rotor is automatically aligned in the wind direction.

The team is currently working on an electro-mechanical hybrid drive. More is not yet betrayed at this point...

Mechanical drives of wind powered vehicles have a higher efficiency than electrical drives. Team InVentus has continuously improved the powertrain since it was founded 10 years ago. The specially designed drive train has components from cycling, the precise production was carried out at the partners or in the institute's own workshop.

In addition to the powertrain, the mechanical team works on the body and chassis.