Performance With Sustainability! Uttarakhand Students Build Electric Car Out Of Recycled Paper

Students of the Graphic Era (Deemed to be University) in Uttarakhand have built an electric single-seater racing car's body with recycled paper.

Using paper engineering principles, the students created the body with reprocessed Papier-mâché mixed with Plaster of Paris (PoP).

The team collected paper waste from the college premises and the neighbouring areas for the project.

The vehicle 'C-Zero' is recyclable, waterproof as well as fireproof. Apart from this, it is lightweight (40 kgs) and cost-effective.

Usually, the electric racing cars' bodies are made out of carbon-fibre. A carbon-fibre car body costs approximately ₹3 lakh, while this cost around ₹1.78 lakh.

Speaking to The Better India, Madhur Saxena, one of the 10 members of Team E^2 said that it was a nostalgic moment for them, as this was the first attempt for the team and second for the college. The team built the body within months, before the 2019 Shell Eco-marathon India in Bengaluru. Saxena said the limited time and knowledge about electric vehicles was a challenge for the team, and they failed several times.

"We even burnt 3-4 motors before finally getting it right. Obstacles followed at the event as well. The car's fuel went off a day before the final marathon, and we had to travel across the city to find another and fix the car," he added.

While some people had a surprising look on their faces, many even raised doubts about its functioning when they heard about the innovation, the 21-year-old student said. Despite facing all the hurdles, C-Zero eventually raced through the tracks, with a mileage of 108 km/kWh.

The team also won the Circular Economy award in the Off-Track category. The members are now working on achieving a mileage of 600 km/kWh.

Also Read: Age Just A Number: 67-Yr-Old Cracks GATE 2021, Aims To Pursue Research In Augmented Reality