Students at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University have built
an urban solar electric car with a 3D-printed body, the university said
on Monday.
The car named NTU Venture 8 is mounted on a carbon fiber single shell
chassis. The cars were designed from scratch and the students spent
over a year to build them.
The students used the latest engineering techniques to develop
innovations such as silicon solar cells that can be contoured to follow
the car's shape.
"We are extremely proud to have designed and assembled a 3D- printed
body shell for the electric car," said Ng Heong Wah, an associate
professor at the university. "The 3D printed car body was pushing
existing technology to the limits and we are so pleased that it has paid
off."
Students said that they used the 3D-printing technology to build the
cabin from lightweight plastic so as to maximize the internal space and
driver's comfort while still being able to keeping the weight to a
minimum. Despite being an urban concept car, it can reach a top speed of
60 km/h, while maintaining low energy consumption.
The students will take the NTU Venture 8 to participate in the Shell
Eco-marathon Asia competition this year, under the Urban Concept
category. Teams with more "roadworthy" fuel-efficient vehicles fall in
this category, it said.
The students also built the NTU Venture 9, a three-wheeled racer,
which can "take sharp corners with little loss in speed" due to its
unique tilting ability inspired by motorcycle racing, the university
said. It features hand-made silicon solar cells and will be in the
Prototype category at the Shell competition.
Source: Xinhua
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