For the past year, about 30 students from FER have been participating in the well-known student project FSB Racing Team . Namely, this student association presented in 2019 the new racing car "Vulpes", the first 100 percent electric car developed and assembled entirely in Croatia, exclusively by student forces. FER students soon joined the project in larger numbers, as their expertise in electrical engineering and battery packs is of great importance for the further development of this electric race car. Their contribution is crucial in the sub-teams "Electric Drive", "Electric Motors" and "Control Systems". In addition, the members of FER make up a large part of the "Driverless" team, which is involved in the conversion of the VulpesR electric race car into the first Croatian autonomous race car, VulpesD. "Out of the total 120 members, FSB Racing Team currently has about 30 members from FER, and we would like this number to be even higher. The club has been developing electric vehicles since 2019, and as we are making our own battery pack from day one, a large contribution from FER members is required. We are also developing our own electric motors from this year! The subteam "Driverless" is mainly engaged in the development of a vision system for the car, which will participate in the competition International Formula Student for the first time in 2021," explains Adriana Đugum, a student at the Faculty of Philosopfy and a Team Leader of the FSB Racing Team . "Being a member of the FSB Racing Team could very well be compared to an internship in a company. The difference between an internship in a company and a team membership is that a team member has much more authority and therefore responsibility. Participating in a Formula Student team has great benefits not only for our professional development, but also for making lifelong friendships, either with members of our own team or another team," says Mario Volarić, a second-year student at FER, majoring in Electrical Engineering and information technology . Finally, it is interesting to note that for most students of FER, the practical experience they gain in this racing team is just an extension of the areas of interest they have developed during their studies. For example, most of the students from FER, who are members of this student association, under the mentorship of Assoc. Prof. Stjepan Stipetić, PhD , deal with the problems of electric traction motors, from the preparation of the undergraduate project, to the preparation of the thesis. Check out the usual working atmosphere below from the FSB Racing Team garage!

Every year, FER hosts a number of foreign students who spend a semester or more expanding their knowledge, experience, and international contacts by taking the opportunities offered within the Erasmus+ mobility programme. Despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, this academic year FER has once again attracted students from all over the world. Below you can read some of the impressions from several exchange students who have spent the last few months in Zagreb.

In March 2021, the first fast charging station for electric vehicles was put into operation at FER. The charging station was procured by Croatian Science Foundation Program as part of the scientific research project " FLEXIBASE - Flexibility of High Conversion Microgrids". "The charging station is part of the microgrid of FER's SmartGrid Lab, which consists of distributed flexibility sources based on converters. It will test control algorithms developed to optimize the operation of the microgrid and maintain its stability during the transition to islanding, i.e. disconnection from the electricity distribution networks", explained FLEXIBASE project leader, Assoc. Prof. Hrvoje Pandžić, PhD . Numerous researchers from the Department of Energy and Power Systems, as well as members of the project team, were involved in connecting the e-charging station to the SmartGrid Lab's control system. The use of the e-station is free of charge for the employees of FER. More information about the FLEXIBASE project can be found at the bottom of the release.