For women, by women!

By Kumaran P | NT

Bengaluru, Nov.12:

“I never imagined myself bending metal sheets, or cutting and welding rods,” smiles Swetha R., a final year electrical engineering student. She and her team­mates stand proudly beside their creation, an electric car that they built from scratch. The lockdown in 2020 hampered many aca­demic careers but MNV Swetha R, Saima Zulfa and Nandita J were determined that nothing would stand in their way.

The final year electrical engineering students from Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering (VVCE), My­suru have developed an EV car, a scalable model that is in full working condition. Built from the ground up, it was eight months in the making and contains a 12v, 32 Amp lead acid battery and a 1 KW motor.

The initiative was led by Saima Zulfa. “We wanted to design a car that women would feel comfortable driving. The car runs 70 km on a full charge and costs about Rs 7 per kilometre,” she says. “We want to use Lithium Ion batteries in the future to increase seat­ing capacity.”

The battery takes about 40 minutes to charge com­pletely,” says Saima. It comes with built-in secu­rity in the form of a circuit breaker beneath the seat. This switch needs to be turned on to release the leg break. “Unauthorized per­sons cannot drive it,” Sai­ma explains. They intend to enhance their vehicle with voice and app-based controllers.

“Installing solar pan­els on the roof of the car is also a possibility,” said Nandita J.