Africa’s most populous country and now the
greatest economic powerhouse, is now
venturing into solar car manufacturing. A
group of Nigerian engineers, technologists and
scientists have come together to design the
state-of-the-art “9jaBOLT”.
The team’s leader and Creative Director,
Ebube Ebisike, said the group would need
about US$650,000 to make the “9jaBOLT” a
reality. The prototype will be unveiled at the
2015 Africa Design Medal & Festival in Lagos.
It’s a fair showcasing the finest products from
Africa’s architects, industrial designers,
artists, innovators, technologists and
photographers.
The one-seater lightweight car comes in an
aerodynamically sculptured body, covered
with a specially-modified compound known as
Wysips Crystals (a new technology being
explored to charge mobile phones) that are
powerful enough to trap and convert sun rays
into electrical energy to power the car.
According to the team, many of the car’s
components will be built locally.
“However, we can signpost our super
capability as ‘Giants of Africa’ by linking space
[and] terra-firma gadgets [with] machines and
software in one compact ecosystem for our
greater good. All designed with patents
achieved using Nigeria signature innovation.”
Ebisike said.
The team is also pursuing patency for the
invention as well as seeking International
Standards Organisation (ISO) Certification.
The 9jaBOLT, which is a sports car, would
compete in a four-day 3,000 km race from
Darwin to Adelaide. This makes it the first
time Nigeria has been officially invited to
compete as Africa’s sole representative in the
World Solar Challenge from October 18-25,
2015 in Adelaide, Australia.
The team believes the 9jaBOLT can race and
possibly win at the southern hemisphere
event. It is also optimistic that the 9jaBOLT’s
story will inspire other homegrown
technological ideas and brands to achieve
global recognition just like Dangote and
Oando have.
“We seek to build the 9jaBOLT Solar Car. This
project to us is ‘Nigeria’s Centenary
Technology Project’”, Ebesike said, adding: “It
is factual to say this project will birth 100
percent transformational technology transfer
to all members of team Nigeria, as it also will
set the record straight that Nigeria is fully
geared towards exploring all its rarer
resources, especially science and technology.”
Ebesike said he is of the greatest conviction
that with the leaps most African countries are
making these days in technological
advancements, the Continent “would get there
sooner than we have thought of.”
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