Africa’s most populous country and now the greatest economic powerhouse, is now venturing into solar car manufacturing. A group of Nigerian engineers, technologists and scientists have come together to design the state-of-the-art “9jaBOLT”.
The team’s leader and Creative Director, Ebube Ebisike, said the group would need about US$650,000 to make the “9jaBOLT” a reality. The prototype will be unveiled at the 2015 Africa Design Medal & Festival in Lagos. It’s a fair showcasing the finest products from Africa’s architects, industrial designers, artists, innovators, technologists and photographers.
The one-seater lightweight car comes in an aerodynamically sculptured body, covered with a specially-modified compound known as Wysips Crystals (a new technology being explored to charge mobile phones) that are powerful enough to trap and convert sun rays into electrical energy to power the car.
According to the team, many of the car’s components will be built locally.
“However, we can signpost our super capability as ‘Giants of Africa’ by linking space [and] terra-firma gadgets [with] machines and software in one compact ecosystem for our greater good. All designed with patents achieved using Nigeria signature innovation.” Ebisike said.
The team is also pursuing patency for the invention as well as seeking International Standards Organisation (ISO) Certification.
The 9jaBOLT, which is a sports car, would compete in a four-day 3,000 km race from Darwin to Adelaide. This makes it the first time Nigeria has been officially invited to compete as Africa’s sole representative in the World Solar Challenge from October 18-25, 2015 in Adelaide, Australia.
The team believes the 9jaBOLT can race and possibly win at the southern hemisphere event. It is also optimistic that the 9jaBOLT’s story will inspire other homegrown technological ideas and brands to achieve global recognition just like Dangote and Oando have.
“We seek to build the 9jaBOLT Solar Car. This project to us is ‘Nigeria’s Centenary Technology Project’”, Ebesike said, adding: “It is factual to say this project will birth 100 percent transformational technology transfer to all members of team Nigeria, as it also will set the record straight that Nigeria is fully geared towards exploring all its rarer resources, especially science and technology.”
Ebesike said he is of the greatest conviction that with the leaps most African countries are making these days in technological advancements, the Continent “would get there sooner than we have thought of.”