Students of American University of Sharjah (AUS) have launched the GCC region’s first student-built solar powered car.

The Siemens Sunchaser is the result of a collaboration between Siemens, the regional company of the global engineering powerhouse, Siemens AG, and the American University of Sharjah (AUS) College of Engineering.

Following a sponsorship agreement between Siemens and AUS early last year, eight engineering students from the university set out to design and build a solar-powered car as their undergraduate project.  Designed as the regional prototype for vehicles that utilise alternative energy sources, the Siemens Sunchaser is a 1.5 horsepower car capable of moving at speeds up to 100 km per hour.  It harnesses its power from the sun through a series of 740 cells arranged on the body of the car in solar panels.

“With our expertise as a technology-oriented, knowledge-based company, we understand the need to foster and nurture future generations across the globe,” said Joachim Kundt, CEO, Siemens.  “With the Siemens Sunchaser we are able to support education as well as encourage environmental sustainability, which is an important tenet for our company”.

The Siemens Sunchaser will remain on the AUS campus, where future students will be able to optimise its features for greater performance.  “AUS is renowned for its emphasis on providing hands-on experience to its engineering students.  With the support of Siemens, we were able to realise this goal to such an ambitious scale that our students have become the first to design and build a solar-powered car in the GCC region. We are proud to have achieved this distinction,” said Dr Ameen El-Sinawi, the primary advisor of the Sunchaser project, and associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, AUS.

The relationship between Siemens and American University of Sharjah goes back several years.  Internships at Siemens have resulted in some AUS students being employed at the company.

AUS is one of 600 colleges and universities that Siemens is in contact with globally as part of its Generation21 corporate citizenship platform. Under this platform, Siemens operates and supports a wide range of projects around the world that take a novel approach to encouraging and supporting an interest among young people in the natural sciences, engineering, technological advances, and current affairs, the company said. – TradeArabia News Service