India's Solar car

President of India Flags off The DTU Passenger Solar Car

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, today  5 September 2012)  flagged off the  DTU Passenger Solar Car at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

 

The Solar Passenger Car has been designed and developed by a team of Delhi Technological University (DTU).

The DTU Solar Car is code named 'Solaris' and is one of the most innovative projects of the Delhi Technological University, which was formerly called the Delhi College of Engineering.

 The team comprises of an interdisciplinary group of under-graduate students headed by Shri Dhiraj Mishra of the Electronics and Communication Engineering Department of DTU. With a top speed of 120 km/hr, the solar car is a zero carbon emission, completely eco-friendly car and has a sedan shape with a seating capacity of 2 and option of adding 3 seats more. The body is made of special grade Matt Fibre in order to keep the solar car light in weight and performance oriented. Flexible modules of Mono crystalline solar silicon cells of 21.4% efficiency have been pasted all over the top of the body in order to entrap maximum solar energy. In all, 800 W is generated from the solar modules. 

Described as "India's most efficient solar passenger car", the vehicle will represent India at the Sasol Solar Challenge being held in South Africa from September 15 to 29.

Solar cars from across the world will participate in this Solar Challenge which will cover 4200 km along the coastline of South Africa.

Speaking on the occasion Prof. P.B. Sharma, Vice Chancellor of DTU said that the future of automobiles in India lies in solar power and hybrid vehicles. He stated that DTU is firmly committed to empower India’s solar powered vehicles and solar power generation systems.

In Delhi, the solar passenger car will run on Rajpath and then circle India Gate to pay tribute to martyrs of the nation before being shipped off for the competition in South Africa, a Rashtrapati Bhavan release said.