What began as a local idea to traverse cross-country from Darwin to Adelaide, Australia in 1987, has grown to become an epic international journey to push the limits of clean energy technologies to propel solar powered vehicles farther. And CITIZEN, as official time partner, has supported the teams right from the start.

Every two years, 45 teams from 26 countries vie to design and build the ultimate efficient electric vehicle powered only by sunlight to navigate across 3,000 kilometers of hot, unforgiving roads.

With similar inspiration and non-stop verve to explore natural light power, CITIZEN has innovated Eco-Drive — the breakthrough proprietary light-driven technology that has changed the way watches are powered today. Eco-Drive is the culmination of state-of-the-art technologies and exquisite design, which was pioneered by CITIZEN as early as 1976. It drives watches by incorporating solar cells that generate electricity from any natural or artificial light source.

For CITIZEN, sponsoring the Solar World Challenge as official timekeeper is a natural extension of its spirit of innovation toward developing environmentally sustainable energy for the future, and we’re proud to be a part of such an important event.