An OAU Undergraduate Builds A Solar- powered Car "Oyeyiola Segun,"

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.

Source: http://oaupeeps.com/post.php?
id=846

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