Hike in petrol prices was something predicted a long time ago and it turned out to be something that motivated a man from Srinagar to create a car that runs on solar energy from scratch.
Bilal Ahmed, a mathematics teacher from Srinagar in Kashmir, made it his aim to build a ‘luxurious’ and sustainable vehicle that is not just for the super wealthy’. He has gone viral for his creation, a project he has worked on solo for the past 11 years.
“It was in 2009 that I came across an article that said petrol prices will increase exponentially. That’s when I decided that I want to build a car that will be free of petrol,” he told DECODE in an interview.
Just days after the launch, Ahmed became an internet sensation after his work was noticed and appreciated by the tech giants including Anand Mahindra, who is known to offer help to those with potential but limited means.
Ahmed’s car has features that are comparable with other luxury cars. The car solely runs on the electrical energy which is generated by the monocrystalline solar panels that generate maximum electricity even when it is exposed to the least solar energy. The car’s panels, he explained, are efficient and occupy a low surface area. It is fully automatic and has gullwing doors to take care of the space constraints.
Ahmed’s creation is all the more remarkable for having been achieved without any external funding. The father-of-two says he has spent more than 15 lakh rupees (€18,200) building the fully-automatic car, after studying various 1950s models and networking with other experts.
Teaching IIT-JEE students mathematics as his day job, Ahmed has managed this remarkable feat learning from other design models through YouTube and utilizing his engineering knowledge.
“Bilal Ahmed’s passion is commendable. I applaud his single-handedly developing this prototype. Clearly the design needs to evolve into a production-friendly version. Perhaps our team at Mahindra Research Valley can work alongside him to develop it further,” he tweeted tagging Velu Mahindra, the President of automotive technology at Mahindra.
Dr. Bilal Philips