NIGERIAN STUDENT BUILDS A SOLAR-POWERED CAR

Segun Oyeyiola, a final year student of Electronic and Electrical engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University, has converted a Volkswagen Beetle to run on solar and wind energy at the same time.

According to Segun, "I wanted to reduce carbon dioxide emissions going to our atmosphere that lead to climate change or global warming which has become a new reality, with deleterious effect: seasonal cycles are disrupted, as are ecosystems; and agriculture, water needs and supply, and food production are all adversely affected.” “Therefore, I came up of building a car that will use both winds and solar energy for its movement,” he continued. “This was my personal project because of the problem I’m planning to solve.”


His remarkable effort is still a prototype and not suitable for everyday use yet (The battery requires about 4-5 hours to charge and is so heavy that he had to modify the suspensions to bear the weight of the battery) but it has already brought a new, possible solution to the major problem with electric cars–charging the battery. Solar powered electric cars aren’t new, but adding a wind-turbine to augment the solar charger when the car is in motion is something I personally haven’t come across as an idea before. It in theory, would make it possible to drive and charge at night when there is no sunlight.

Segun is however not deterred by the challenges he is faced with at the moment and is bent on improving on his innovation.