Engineering students of the Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), Manipal University, came up with yet another great performance. A solar car, invented by ‘SolarMobil’, won the first prize at the ‘QuEST Ingenium 2015’ in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
According to a press release issued by the university here on Wednesday, it was a significant achievement as the team emerged the best from 5,794 entries across the country. This event was organised by QuEST Global and co-sponsored by Airbus, Qatar Airways, Aequs and ANSYS.
Team SolarMobil was among the top 10 on Monday. “That came as a big surprise to us,” said faculty coordinator Umananda K.V. of Aeronautics and Automobile Department.
The cash prize amounted to Rs. 1 lakh and three members have been assured a visit to Airbus in Germany. The car is a two-seater passenger vehicle called ‘SERve’ — Solar Electric Road Vehicle, with a provision for two additional seats.
“Manipal University and MIT have supported us in making this dream car become a reality. It was manufactured in-house; I saw them toil to complete it. They used to work late into the night and sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. All of them were enthusiastic. Tata Solar supported us with the solar panel. We are now planning to have a gear car,” Mr. Umananda said.
The car took almost two years to complete and cost about Rs. 15 lakh. Twenty-seven students drawn from different disciplines built the car, which weighs 590 kg, with a maximum speed of 60 kmph.
The battery storage is 6.5kWh and sustains up to 100 km when fully charged, and solar panels that can generate 1KW energy. The body is glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) and the suspension has been tested for the Indian roads.
The car is a
two-seater vehicle called ‘SERve’ — Solar Electric Road Vehicle
