A group of Mechanical Engineering students
from the University of Lagos have built an
electric-powered car from scratch, using locally
sourced materials. The project, which began in 2014, was initiated
by two engineering graduates (then
undergrads), Olukoya Olusanya and Maduka
Smart, who later enlisted the help of other
mechanical engineering students. The result of the collaboration was a zero
emission electric powered prototype vehicle
called dubbed the DOVE P1. The DOVE P1, which is made of a fibre glass
body, weighs in at about 200kg and is capable
of speeds of up to 35 km/h. While one would question the viability an
electric car in a nation that struggles with
reliable power supply. “Cars are going electric”, said team lead
Olukoya Olusanya in an interview with CCTV
News, “and I believe that in the next 15 years, more
than half of all cars sold around the world will
be either partially electric or fully electric”. These are quite bold statements. All around the
developed world, electric cars continue to
struggle to get mass adoption. Their high cost, limited range do not help their
cause much, even in developing nations where
power is not a problem. Nevertheless, Project Dove (as the team is
called) remains confident that electric cars are
the future. They have launched a crowdfunding campaign
to raise $25,000 towards replicating the
technology at other Universities all around
Nigeria.
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UNILAG Engineering Students Built An Electric Car From Scratch (Photo + Video)Created at 2016-01-25
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