Meet OAU Undergraduate, Oyeyiola Segun that built a solar-powered car |Photo

Here is a solar-powered vehicle built by Oyeyiola Segun, a Part 5 student of the Electronic and Electrical Department of Obafemi Awolowo University.

In an exclusive interview by OAU Peeps Forum, he explained how the car came into existence and the motivations behind it.

OAU Peeps:�Can we meet you sir?
Segun:�Okay, I am Oyeyiola Segun, a part 5 student of Elect-Elect., OAU

OAU Peeps:�We learnt you built this lovely car. Was it a joint project or you did it yourself?
Segun:�I did it only. This is not a day’s job, I have been working on it for some months now.

OAU Peeps:�So how does the car work?
Segun:�Basically it depends on Wind and Solar energy. All the energy derived for these two sources were converted to run the simple car. There are different means of obtaining energy from these two sources but I picked the one that is cool for my car.

OAU Peeps:�From what you just said, you can either use the Wind or Solar Energy to power the car’s engine?
Segun:�Not either energy, rather both energies are used to power the car.

OAU Peeps:�Cool… that differentiates your production from the usual vehicles we see around us I suppose?
Segun:�Yes, you are very correct.

OAU Peeps:�Could you share with us what actually provoked your innovation? I mean what you thought before coming up with this lovely engine?
Segun:�Basically, it is because of the climate change we experience due to the combustion of fuel and you know cars also contribute to that change. So I thought of running a car that will not use fuel for its locomotion. After series of thinking and research work, I came up with the simple method that gave birth to this. So that is the basic reason for the car. Another concern of mine is to produce a car that will function effectively at a reduced cost of maintenance. I believe you know the price of fuel in this country is almost going beyond the reach of a common man?

OAU Peeps:�Yes, you are right. Is there any other peculiarity of the car that you will like to share apart from the once you have mentioned?
Segun:�Of course yes. 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.

OAU Peeps:�What do you mean by the State of the car?
Segun:�I mean the functionality of the car, like the battery level, the weather conditions, the distance you can cover during different weather conditions. In case you have a bad weather. The car also has a GPS in it that helps to know the location of the car. These and many other features embedded in it.

OAU Peeps:�Wow! this is very lovely. Do you have plans replicating this nice work in the future?
Segun:�The work has come to stay, but I need to keep improving it for now.

OAU Peeps:�It took you how many years to put this together?
Segun:�That your question can be phased into two categories, do you mean mentally or physically?

OAU Peeps:�Lol… you are right. Let us talk about the Physical aspect of it now.
Segun:�Okay. We all know how our country is, I mean to get money is not easy but I pray that God will make it easy for everyone of us. The truth is, I cannot really say how long because I started using my personal little money to get the materials together. Let me just say about twelve(12) months.

OAU Peeps:�Did you encounter any major challenge during this project?
Segun:�Yes, Money. Even at the moment, I still need funds to get some others materials which are in my original paper design which I have not implemented on the car.

OAU Peeps:�What will be the summarized cost of this car when fully ready?
Segun:�There are lots of things that will lead to summary cost of production, so for now I cannot specifically state the cost but with all the materials that I will be needing since I am not producing in large quantities, its close to a million naira. Now quantifying my effect and others on foreseen cases.

OAU Peeps:�Finally, your message to fellow Nigerian students?
Segun:�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. May God help and bless us all.

OAU Peeps:�Amen. Thank you so much Engineer, we are indeed proud of you.
Segun:�You are welcome and May God help OAU Peeps Forum too.