A team of brilliant students from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have reportedly built a Singapore's first urban solar car based on an innovative 3D printing technology that shall about 150 parts. Ng Heong Wah, university's associate professor who had mentored the team said that the students have gone ahead with the project by just taking a leap of faith. Speaking more Ng said, “Using the latest engineering techniques learnt from their studies in NTU, the students have developed innovations such as silicon solar cells that can be contoured to follow the car's shape. This allows for maximum harvesting of the solar energy and a tilting mechanism in NV9 that can 'lean' in the direction of the turn to avoid losing speed.”
Ng further added, “We are extremely proud to have designed and assembled a 3D printed body shell for the electric car, which is Singapore's first and probably Asia's first 3D-printed concept car. Despite being an Urban Concept car, it is no slouch and can reach a top speed of 60 kilometers per hour, while maintaining low energy consumption.”
The vehicle named Venture (NV) 8 shall participate in 2015 Shell Eco-marathon Asia's Urban Concept category. Apart from this the team has also developed NTU Venture (NV) 9, a slick three-wheeled racer that is capable of handling sharp corners with little loss in speed owing to its unique tilting ability that has been inspired by motorcycle racing. It took about an year for the undergrads to develop these vehicles. Moreover, the vehicle claims to deliver the highest fuel efficiency.
