UNILAG recently gained some global acclaim as 20 students from the school designed and built an electric power racing car that successfully passed technical competence tests at an international competition in the Netherlands.
The car was designed to use solar-electric battery shaped like a teardrop to minimize drag, and its body was built with natural material from raffia.

The students came from various departments of the school, including the electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering departments, plus the physics, architecture and creative arts departments.
The competing teams at the Netherlands competition had to complete two tasks. The first task was to design and build ultra-energy-efficient vehicles to see how far they can drive using the least amount of energy.


There were two classes and seven fuel categories: the prototype class focused on maximum efficiency, while the urban concept class encouraged more practical designs.
Prototype vehicles were futuristic and streamlined, and the objective was to reduce friction and maximize efficiency. Urban concept vehicles were more conventional. They were designed and built according to the needs of today’s drivers.

Teams also opted for one of six fuel types: petrol, diesel, electric battery, hydrogen and alternative fuels ethanol and GTL. The competition encouraged teams to use eco-friendly materials in every way possible.
With UNILAG’s success in the competition, the university got a recent invitation for another exhibition in October, holding in South Africa.

UNIBEN, in conjunction with Shell Nigeria, also designed and assembled an urban concept car for the competition. The project was done by Prof. Akii Ibhadode and 13 students from three departments in the Faculty of Engineering.
Although the car the UNIBEN team built had an engine failure and couldn’t finish the race, they performed remarkably by getting their car certified.

While in Netherlands, Team Nigeria spent over three hours touring the Shell Technology Centre in Amsterdam, one of the facilities around the world where the foremost scientists create oil and gas industry innovations.
The students and faculty members were inspired by the persistence and passion for excellence shown by the Shell scientists. Both teams were happy with their performance on the whole and thanked Shell Nigeria for engaging them in such project.

Credits: http://go.engineer-ng.net/forum/topics/team-unilag-uniben-shine-at-car-making-contest