A 30-year-old Kenyan from Uasin Gishu County has hit the headlines after making a solar powered car.
This achievement has spoken to the untapped potential for technological advancement among the youth.
“I admired owning a car and since I did not have enough money to buy one, I just sat down and remembered that I am an innovator. That is when I thought of coming up with a unique car, a solar-powered car that does not require any fuel,” said Samuel Karumbo lives in Langas estate in Eldoret.
Below are the photos of the solar car:
“The solar car is taking advantage of the panels that collect the rays from the sun then convert them into electronic energy then the electronic energy will be stored in the batteries then you can use the energy from the battery to drive the wheel,” explained Karumbo who holds a diploma in Electrical Installation from Kitale Technical Polytechnic.
He said the vehicle depends heavily on gravity when on descend. The motor acts as a generator for producing energy for later use.
The solar powered car can cover about 50 km in a day, the only challenge being the low speed motor which doesn’t allow it to use energy faster.
“The car which weighs approximately 120 kilograms has three solar panels to propel it. The solar panels have a total of 260 watts which is a lot of energy,” he added.
Karumbo said he wants to use the car to create awareness and reach out to people to adopt clean energy to protect the environment.
“One of the mitigating interventions that the country should put in place is to promote investments that work towards attaining the goal of using 100% renewable energy from sources such as solar, geothermal, tidal waves, the wind and even municipal waste as opposed to using fossil fuel generated power,” explained Karumbo.