Working with 100 percent locally manufactured parts, students and faculty from the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering built two cars which they named ABUCAR 1 and ABUCAR 2.
“Though, there are things that we did not fabricate ourselves, you will be surprised that some of the components like the electrical, we just looked at an old computer system and then adopted some of the components that were useful to us,” said Department Head Dr. Mohammed Dauda. “Otherwise, I will say 100 per cent of the things we used were produced here in Zaria.”
The cars, which were recently displayed on ABU’s campus, were designed as eco-friendly experiments in answer to a new federal policy aimed at cutting back on carbon emission, but will also be entered into the Shell Eco-Marathon this May in Rotterdam.
The competition, which started in 1939 when employees at the Shell Oil Company made a bet on who could build a car that could go the farthest on the same amount of fuel, has expanded into a global event, taking place in three different regions annually: Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
“[The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited] invited ABU to participate,” said Dr. Dauda. “The car should be one that consumes little fuel but goes long distances.”
Neither Nigeria nor West Africa will enter the competition as complete greenhorns. Last year, another team from ABU along with competitors from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the University of Benin (UNIBEN) took part in which UNIBEN’s car, officially named ‘Ecocruise,’ won an award for the “Most Innovative Vehicle Design.”
ABU is the largest university in Nigeria and is the second largest in all of Africa besides Cairo University in Egypt.
