Mohali 20 April : CGC Landran students designed Solar car at Indo-Asian Solar Competition held at LPU Jalandhar .The Helios Solar Team comprised of 18 members of CGC Landran won the Endurance race which was of 100 kms to be completed in 4 hours. Endurance race tests the acceleration, braking, steering, cornering, overtaking capabilities of the vehicle without hindering other vehicles movement. A total of 100 teams participated from different parts of the country in the event, out of which only 34 teams managed to qualify for the final round.
While speaking at the moment Satnam Singh Sandhu Chairman CGC and Rashpal Singh Dhaliwal President CGC said that the design of the car is inspired from Bullet train. The Helios Solar Car is an eco-friendly drive with an average speed of 26 km/hr. The car is powered by a DC motor of 850 watt, four lead acid batteries and four solar panels of 100 watt each. It has a loading capacity of 600 kg. The solar car also has a reversing mechanism. The batteries can be charged by solar energy. The other features of the car are RFID, GPS & GSM Module and Parking sensors. The RFID system is similar to the system used in ATMs. A specific card is used to start the motor of the car. The GPS and GSM module works when the car met with an accident, the location of the car is sent to a registered mobile number of the driver’s family and to the nearest hospital. Instead of a speedometer, the car has a discharge meter which shows the percentage of battery left.
There were various rounds like drafting and designing of the vehicle, Virtual round and Dynamic round in the competition. The Dynamic round had different phases such as technical inspection, Brake and Acceleration Test, Design Inspection and Auto Cross. The car was inspected thoroughly and the team reached the final round that was Endurance race. In the final round team Helios won the race with flying colors and brought laurels to the tricity. Winner team was congratulated & motivated for conceptualization and execution of such innovative ideas.