Students from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have created the world's first 3D-printed car that runs on solar power.
The car, dubbed the NV8, will race against a number of other concept cars in the Urban Concept category at the Shell Eco-marathon Asia, set to take place in Manila, Philippines, from Feb. 26 to March 1.
"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," said Associate Professor Ng Heong Wah.
Only the cabin of the car is 3D-printed, and is then mounted on a carbon fiber single-shell chassis. The cabin is made from lightweight plastic that is made to maximize the space inside the cabin as much as possible.
"We decided to go with a 3D-printed cabin made from lightweight plastic, as we wanted to maximize the internal space and driver's comfort while still being able to keeping the weight to a minimum," said Ilmi Bin Abdul Wahab, who led the development of the car. "Despite being an Urban Concept car, it is no slouch and can reach a top speed of 60 kilometres per hour (about 37 mph) while maintaining low energy consumption."
The team behind the NV8 originally wanted to develop a supercar concept, but in the end they decided on a micro-car with doors that open vertically. According to the team, assembly of the car was rather difficult because it was created in different parts by different 3D printers around the university campus. The cabin is made from 150 parts and took a total of three months to put together.
Another team of students at the university developed another car, dubbed the NTU Venture 9, or NV9. This car is three-wheeled, and can take corners with little speed loss, due to its design based on its tilting ability inspired by motorcycle racing.
"The resulting design looks like a fusion between a F1 race car and a glider plane, with an all-surround canopy for increased visual awareness," said NV9 team manager Winston Tan, who is a final-year electrical and electronic engineering student.
The cars are built with the goal of being fuel efficient. To achieve this goal, the students created new innovations such as silicon solar cells that can be bent to follow the car's shape, which allows it to capture as much sunlight as possible.
