SINGAPORE: 10 final year engineering students from the National University of Singapore have designed and built a green car, said to be the first of its kind in Singapore.
Affectionately known as Kruce, the eco-friendly car was built from scratch over a 10-month period.The S$40,000 car is powered by hydrogen fuel cells and emits no carbon dioxide. Its only by-product is water.
Environmentally friendly vehicles like Kruce have already been launched in countries like the US. Its creators are in the learning process of making Kruce more energy efficient rather than environmentally friendly.
There is still some way to go before Kruce can be road ready.
Associate Professor Ian Gibson, co-supervisor, Kent Ridge Urban Concept Ecocar (KRUCE), said: "You will probably realise that itself will not be a fully fledged road vehicle. But certainly some of the ideas that we have explored within this vehicle will become useful in developing an actual road vehicle."
Kruce is made with lightweight materials such as aluminium and carbon fibre reinforced polymers and has aerodynamic features to help it move faster and further with less fuel.
The environmentally-friendly vehicle will compete against 66 cars at the Shell Eco-marathon Europe competition from May 7 to 9 in Germany.
The challenge is to complete 22 kilometres within 53 minutes. The car that uses the least amount of fuel to complete the circuit wins. - CNA/vm
This car’s carbon emission: 0
Zul Othman, Today Online 21 Apr 09;
IT IS by no means the first urban concept car to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells — an electrochemical “device” that converts chemical energy into electrical energy.
But their car can travel longer and faster, claim the 10-member team from the Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, who developed it as part of their final year project (picture).
Dubbed the Kruce or the Kent Ridge Urban Concept Ecocar, it can travel up to 300km on a litre of fuel, said leader Zhang Wei Sheng, 24.
It is being entered for the Eco-Marathon, a race for fuel-efficient cars in Germany from May 7 to 9.
“Other teams have used hydrogen fuel cells before ... but we (have) codeveloped the customised fuel cells so our fuel cell is smaller and lighter,” he said.
The car will have a zero carbon emission rating and be almost noiseless when driven. The codevelopment was with Gashub Technology, a local renewable energy technology company.
The team will compete in the Urban Concept category against 66 teams from 37 countries. The winner will be determined by the least amount of fuel used to travel seven laps of a 22-km circuit in 53minutes.
The 2.7m-long single seater has a top speed of 40kmh, but has twice the efficiency of a conventional combustible engine, due to its in-built hydrogen circulation.
Made from lightweight material, it weighs 130 kg, and took 10 months to build. Last year the team ranked 18th at the race in France.
First Singapore-made eco-car to run on hydrogen
Straits Times 21 Apr 09;
THE first made-in-Singapore eco-car to run on hydrogen was launched yesterday at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Powered by a 1.2kilowatt hydrogen fuel cell, the $40,000 vehicle named KRUCE, or Kent Ridge Urban Concept Ecocar, expels water as exhaust and is twice as energy-efficient as internal combustion engine vehicles, according to fuel-cell technology data.
It will compete against 66 teams from 37 countries at the Shell Eco-marathon to be held from May 7 to 9 at the EuroSpeeday Lausitz, a race track located near Klettwitz in eastern Germany.
The annual contest will see cars perform seven laps - or 22km - around a circuit within 53 minutes. The winner, who stands to win a cash prize of ¥1,000, is determined by the car which consumes the least amount of fuel over the distance covered.
It is a technological showcase to encourage innovative solutions among youth for the energy challenges of the future.
The NUS team's project, which started nine months ago, is a collaboration among 10 students from the university's engineering faculty, the Design Incubation Centre at the NUS School of Design and Environment, and local technology company Gashub Technology.
Built using lightweight materials such as aluminium and carbon fibre, the car weighs 130kg and can hit a top speed of 40 kmh.
NUS president, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, told The Straits Times: 'The project is really about the training of students as engineers...It teaches them to identify and define problems as opposed to just solving them within a defined model.'
Team leader Zhang Wei Sheng, 24, is looking forward to pitting his wits against the other car designers. Said the final-year mechanical engineering student: 'It will be a good learning experience because we get to interact very closely with the other teams and also see their innovations.'
AMRESH GUNASINGHAM