Nigerian Team Design Solar Race Car, Seek Financial Support

9jaBOLT-Solar-Car-Project

A group of Nigerian engineers, technologists and scientists have designed first of its kind solar race car that will put Nigeria on the talking point of technology and innovation globally.
According to team leader and Creative Director, 9jaBOLT Solar Car Project, Mr. Ebube Ebisike, to build such car they will need about US$650,000. The car is called "9jaBOLT Solar Car" and is planned to be unveiled at he Africa Design Medal & Festival coming up in Lagos in August 2015.
It's the first time when Nigeria has been officially invited to compete as Africa’s sole representative in the World Solar Challenge in October 18-25, 2015 in Adelaide, Australia.
Mr. Ebube Ebisike, who is an ICT enthusiast and graduate of engineering from Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT) with a stint at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and University of Manchester, stated that their "mandate is to design and build this state-of-the-art concept solar car" and they are "seeking financial sponsorship to achieve building the car."
"We seek to build the 9jaBOLT Solar Car. This project to us is ‘Nigeria’s Centenary Technology Project’
given that in 100 years of our existence if we haven’t sent a probe to the moon which is wholly indigenously built or done a major space project beyond the launch of our geo-satellites (built by Chinese contractors), then we should at least have built a state-of-the-art solar car that can race and possibly win at the southern hemisphere event in October 2015," he said.
As the team is building the car from scratch on a tight budget, they seek a cumulative budget of US$650,000 to complete the project, exclusive of cost of other external logistics, research and technology upended costs. Otherwise, they are going to request the Presidency’s resounding sponsorship to achieve this feat.
"This is the biggest and most prestigious race involving solar technology. Our own design is an adaptation that’s never been done before to power a car of this type. The car is a one-seated lightweight design. Its aerodynamically sculptured body will be covered with a specially-modified compound known as Wysips Crystals (is a new area being created to charge mobile phones) that are powerful enough to capture rays of the sun to be converted to enough electrical energy to power the car over the course of the four-day 3,000 km race from Darwin to Adelaide," Ebisike remarked.
"The story of 9jaBOLT, we hope, will inspire several other commendable homegrown technological ideas and brands that will achieve global reckoning just like the Dangote and Oando," Ebisike stated.