University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) has created Nigeria’s first electric car. Yes, the Nigerian version of Tesla. It is called Lion Ozumba 551. UNN graduates are Lions and the Vice Chancellor under which the show ran is named Ozumba.
Yet, UNN should not over-celebrate this. In 1968 during the Biafra War, UNN students and professors produced military-grade vehicles and one of the most sophisticated indigenous bombs in modern Africa (Ogbunigwe). In Okigwe, they built a refinery to refine crude oil when all the axes were closed. So, UNN should chill, this is not a big deal when you look at the history of UNN. Nigeria had done all these things more than 50 years ago and used in warfare.
Sylvester Akalonu,Gordian Ezekwe, Benjamin Nwosu, Willy Achukwu, Okezie Confidence and other members of the highly elite Research and Production Organisation of Biafra accomplished what Raytheon and Boeing could not get closer. How? They worked with nothing to achieve great engineering feats including designing, testing and mass producing the Ogbunigwe within months!
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Do not take my words; visit Umuahia and you will see those equipment. Sure – congratulations to the students. Yes, congratulations to UNN. Let’s get them to the market.
Mr Jelani Aliyu, the Director-General of National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) has commended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) for being the first institution to produce electric car in the country.
Aliyu made the commendation in Nsukka on Monday during the unveiling of a five-seater Electric Car, named ‘Lion Ozumba 551?, produced by the Faculty of Engineering in the university, NAN reports.
He urged other universities in the country to emulate UNN in giving serious attention to issues concerning innovations and technology in order to move the country to the next level.
He said: “NADDC on Feb. 6, invited UNN, University of Lagos, Usman Dan Fodio University and Metrological Institute and urged them to prepare a paper design on how to produce electric car in the country.
“The council is happy that UNN is the first to prepare a paper design and produced electrical car that has been unveiled and test-run today in the university.
“We urge other universities and higher institutions in the country to emulate innovation and technology spirit of UNN.”
The NADDC boss, who was represented by Mr David Oyetunji, Director Finance and Account in the council, hoped that the growth in automobile industry in the country would help to create more employments and save the nation’s foreign reserves spent in importing cars into the country.
“NADDC commends UNN, which recently produced the first gasification plant that used organic waste to generate electricity and today the same university is unveiling first electric-built car in the country,’’ Aliyu said.
In a remark, Prof. Charles Igwe, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the university, who was visibly excited, said his administration would continue to give innovation and technology the highest attention in order to move the university to the next level.
Igwe expressed appreciation to the immediate past VC of UNN, Prof. Benjamin Ozumba, who, he said, laid the foundation for innovation and technology in the institution.
“I feel happy that I inherited strong institution from Ozumba and I promised I will consolidate on his numerous achievements.
“I commend the Engineering Faculty for making the university proud and naming the car after Ozumba, who ignited the fire of innovation and technology in the university.
“I also commend NADDC for its encouragement as well as giving UNN a chance to show its potential,” Igwe said.
Source of Press Release is Breaking Times
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Interesting indeed. But personally I think they could have done better on the body work of the car. The shapes are not great at all. When. Sth is to be done it should be done well.
Response: Thank you [] I serve as the Vehicle dynamics sub-team lead on this project, I formulated the mathematical model and also designed the transmission system. so I think I’m in the best position to respond to your comment.
I totally agree that the general aesthetics of the vehicle is quite poor but this is due to the fact that the vehicle was fabricated in the poorly equipped engineering laboratory with no CNC machines, 3D printer or any advanced manufacturing process. Also the project is part of students project and thus there is limited funds. We initially wanted to design, simulate and then contact any good manufacturing firm to produce a mold for us to cast a carbon fiber shell/monocaque but the cost is outrageous. So we decided to stick to the traditional method. And I believe no team anywhere in the world will be able to do better under same condition and funding.
Thank You
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we need to learn a little more about aesthetics and design in this country, yes it just a prototype and school project, but this will not inspire a passion and desire to own it in anyone, have u ever seen an ugly prototype abroad?
spend money and design and fabricate something that looks good, you can then invite politician to bid for it, am sure Dino would like to own Nigeria’s first electric car if it looked good.
It may be budget issues. You may be surprised the students might have done everything within few millions of Naira. The “spend money and design” does not work when there is no money to be spent!
Prototypes are always ugly, has nothing to do with budget or the country. its about how quickly you can test and experiment with your solution with the objective of getting feedback and learning and then optimising, if you take years to get a prototype out you, because you are focusing on aesthetics, you would have launched too late. The first prototypes for Googles glasses were very ugly
Not really – there is a difference between improving products to not using better welders. That was the question. Visit prototypes of Honda, Toyota, etc – they are look like ready-cars. Google Glass prototype was not the issue – the issue is that the idea of Glass did not make sense. Google never produced a better one until it abandoned the idea. So, throughout the brief history of Glass, you saw only prototypes!
Good beginning.
Improve in physical design and then………
Some people may see a better value!
I think, the project team leader and his crew did very well..They deserve an applause instead of the unmerited series of criticism and questionnaires regarding the body works..
Common! If they had the resources why won’t they do the necessary?
Sure – I think so. It is a funding issue
I commend the project team and leader, for a good work. It shows innovation in scarcity of resources. Good work
Inasmuch as the aesthetics may not be encouraging, they simply did what they were able to do with the available resources at their disposal. There are other projects currently being looked into at UNN so not all focus of funds could go into it. I was thinking of how smart and financially savvy startups could align with UNN to mass produce this but with our inconsistent power issues, this would take a very long time to be fully accepted by the populace
Good point ENI – it is really a big challenge to drive an electric vehicle in a nation without a reliable national grid.
It does not look very attractive, but I still appreciate that the car body was fabricated locally.
However, a scraped car can be used to achieve the same objectives, and no technical data and performance characteristics of the project given.
Sure – the ergonomics needs to advance