Singapore’s first 3D Printed concept car makes its debut at Shell Eco-marathon Asia
Dominating the race and leaving others in the dust, NTU Venture 8, Singapore’s first urban solar electric car, was the star at this year’s Shell Eco-marathon Asia. Designed by NTU students, the electric car consists of a carbon fibre single shell chassis and a 3D printed body shell assembled out of 150 different 3D printed parts.
Despite facing tough competition from 124 teams from 16 countries across Asia and Middle East, NV 8 came out on top and its victory marks NTU’s second Technical Innovation Award as well as their fifth Safety award.
Aside from that, NTU students have also built another electric car, namely, the NV 9 (NTU Venture 9). Comprising of hand-made silicon solar cells, the three-wheeled car is able to navigate sharp corners swiftly and with ease. This is because of its unique tilting ability that is similar to the movements of one riding a motorcycle.
NV 9 represented NTU at the Shell Eco-marathon Asia which was held in Manila on 26th February to 1st March 2015 and came in fourth in the race for the Prototype (Battery Electric) category.
According to Associate Professor Ng Heong Wah, both cars were invented based on new and creative ideas rather than enhancements to previous versions.
“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”.
“We are extremely proud to have designed and assembled a 3D printed body shell for the electric car, which is Singapore’s first and probably Asia’s first 3D Printed concept car,” said Prof Ng. “The 3D Printed car body was pushing existing technologies to the limits and we are so pleased that it paid off.”
The final products after a year’s worth of effort by NTU students, NV 8 and NV 9 are not only environmentally friendly but have high fuel efficiency as well. A total of 16 NTU students from various engineering schools were involved in the building of the electric cars at the Innovation Lab located at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Due to the large amount of components that had to be 3D printed, the students also worked together with various NTU schools, research centres, sponsors and institutions. Along with Stratasys and The Singapore- MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART)*, Creatz3D is honoured to have been one of the sponsors involved in this project.
*SMART is one of the institutions that collaborated together with the NTU students
**Original source of article credit to NTULink (A quarterly magazine for NTU Alumni)
***First picture credit to Tech Times
