Segun Oyeyiola Converted a Volkswagen Beetle to Use Renewable Power

Posted on May 17, 2014  Comments (2)

This Nigerian College Student Built a Wind- And Solar-Powered Car From Scraps

The engineering senior at Nigeria’s Obagemi Awolowo University spent a year retrofitting a Volkswagen Beetle into a wind and solar-powered car, partly made of free scrap parts donated by friends and family. Everything else cost under $6,000.
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Not only did Oyeyiola install a giant solar panel on top of the Beetle; he also inserted a wind turbine under the hood. As Preston explains, that allows air to flow into the grill while the car is moving, subsequently turning the turbine’s rotors and charging the battery at the back of the car. Oyeyiola also built a strong suspension system to deal with the weight of the battery itself.

It’s not perfect. The battery takes four to five hours to charge, but Oyeyiola says he’s working on that. The biggest challenges, he says, came from finding the best materials to use, and the people telling him he was wasting his time.

Super cool.

OAU student builds a solar-powered car

Another thing that distinguishes my car from the common ones you see around is that you can know the state of the car through your mobile phones. I wrote a software that you can install which will give you the basic information about the car while in your room.
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My message to my fellow students is that Rome was not built in a day. It is better to start anything you want to do now and don’t never, I repeat, never expect someone to believe in your dreams because they may not understand it as you do. Endeavor to follow your heart and do what will make you happy and that which will not affect your fellow being negatively.

It is so great to read what creative engineers all over the globe are able to accomplish.

Related: Oyeyiola Segun on Twitter – Promoting Innovation in Sierra Leone – Inspirational Engineer Builds Windmill from Trash – Clay Water Filters for Ghana – Help Science Education in Tanzania

2 Responses to “Segun Oyeyiola Converted a Volkswagen Beetle to Use Renewable Power”

  1. Anonymous
    May 24th, 2014 @ 9:43 pm

    Its awesome to see people around the world especially in the poorer countries using technologies like that and to their advantage. Its amazing what you can construct nowadays with all the electronic waste. I made a solar powered robot from scrap vcr parts

  2. Michael
    September 5th, 2014 @ 11:23 pm

    I love projects like this but I can’t imagine that the wind turbine was a justifiable addition to his project. Not to deride his work in any way, but the car would have been better off if he simply streamlined the front and did not allow airflow through it.
    Non-technical folks are always asking ‘why we don’t have windmills on cars’, ha ha.

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