SolarMobil Solar Car by Manipal Institute of Technology

Video Introduction:

There are a very few students with a game-changing vision. Fewer still, execute their vision with concrete actions. Here are 32 students from from various departments of Manipal Institue of Technology who have designed (and are building) a commercial Solar Car - The SolarMobil SERVe (Solar Electric Road Vehicle). That's not just all - They are going to test the endurance of the vehicle in SASOL (South Africa), which is a tough global competition that requires solar vehicles to cover 3000 KM within 8 days. If their solar car completes that goal successfully, driving on normal roads will be a breeze! 

Some facts about the SolarMobil SERVe Solar Car:

1. Four wheeled two passenger solar electric car. 
2. L x W x H = 4.4m x 1.75m x 1.28m. 
3. Weight: 400 Kg.
4. Solar panels: 1 KW rated 6 sq. m monocrystalline solar panels. 
5. Solar panel efficiency: 20%.
6. Battery: Li-Ion; 13 kWhr; 63 Kg; 250+ KM range. 
7. Runs at (top speed): 120 Kmph.

They have already tested the car with Direct Solar Drive Technology for 52 hours, which enables the vehicle to run directly with the energy received from solar panels (without batteries). They were able to achieve a top speed of 17 Kmph, with an average of 14 Kmph. 

The best part of the project is, while most teams from across the world spend around 5-6 crores to design and build a car like this, they have been able to do it by spending twenty times less. Do have a look at the above embedded video to understand how much work has been done on the technical front, to make such an ambitious project feasible. 

However, they are still short of funds. Both individuals and companies can help them reach their crowd-funding target (5 Lakhs) which is open for contribution until 14th September 2014. Here's the link: https://www.wishberry.in/campaign/solarmobil/ (Even if you don't contribute, please help spread the word by sharing it in your Facebook wall, Twitter, blog, etc.).

I think this is an excellent initiative by an Indian college and hope more students will take up exciting and challenging projects in the renewable energy & cleantech sector. 

Let's make the world greener, together :)

Further info: SolarMobil Manipal WordPress blog;
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SolarmobilMIT