Engineering coupled with enthusiasm can produce magic. The students of A P Shah Institute of Technology (APSIT) have proved this right by winning the second prize in Asia’s Electric Solar Vehicle Championship, 2019 by designing and manufacturing a solar car.
Asia’s Electric Solar Vehicle Championship is Asia’s largest solar car event conducted and hosted by the Chandigarh University with the motive of creating and spreading awareness among the upcoming generation of engineers about renewable energy resources and encourage them to foster development in the sector.
In this event, where more than 75 teams from various universities and educational institutes pan India, participate, the students of A P Shah Institute of Technology (APSIT), a college based in Thane, Maharashtra, won the second prize. The students were delighted to receive this prize as they had invested their efforts for seven months behind developing a solar car.
The team was named ‘Modified Auto Club’ that consisted of 37 students, each belonging from different fields of engineering like Information Technology, Mechanical, and Telecommunications. This was the college’s second year of participation. The first year, the team couldn’t secure a prize, but this year it worked on its failure, analyzed where they went wrong, rectified and rose to victory.
Last year, the team realized that the weight of the vehicle should be less. Hence, this time they ensured to keep the weight of vehicle at 180kg. For keeping the weight to minimum, the team used polycarbonate sheets. The car developed takes around 6 hours for solar charging. It has the ability to run at the speed of 35kmph to 50kmph.
The team not just won the second prize but also secured first place in two categories of endurance and cross pad. After receiving the prize, enthusiasm of these students has doubled, as a result of which, they now intend on running the car in their own college campus.
