Amidst of all the chaos and bad name we Pakistanis tend to bring upon ourselves, we still have news to brighten up our days. Many debated that Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy scores on portraying the evils in the Pakistani society which earned her two Oscars. Even I thought, “hey this woman exploits us for her gain” but a closer look reveals that such evils need to be addressed or no one would take note/notice. The recent incident being the case of a poor girl where a local Jirga ordered her killing (to maintain the sanctity of the family’s honor), merely for handing the assist in a friend’s eloping. Talk about being alive in the 21st century.
But hear this! Our NUST graduates have developed Pakistan’s first ever Formula Electric car and this makes us one of the 6 countries to be participating in the Formula SAE Lincoln 2016 competition. At the helm of it are Abdul Aleem, Shariq Waqar, Ahsan Lakhani, Imran Riaz, and Syed Muhammad Taha Rizvi from Formula Electric Racing NUST (acronym FERN).
Abdul Aleem, team leader of the FERN lot had the following to say when reached for a comment:
“Making Pakistan’s First Formula Electric Car was full of challenges but our determination led us to make it all possible and today we stand here proud to be Pakistanis.”
On the technical side, the car runs on lithium ion polymer batteries and weighs 275kg. It is capable of achieving the highest top speed of 110km/h with an acceleration of 0-75km in 4.8 seconds. Few of the notable features are its rack and pinion type steering system, single piston custom made aluminum caliper braking system and an unequal A-arm suspension system with push rods with SP-4 way dampers.
The sponsor in all this is Bank Alfalah and with their tagline in the recent past “The Way Forward” they’ve continued to show their commitment to the cause of a prosperous Pakistan. Atif Bajwa, President and CEO of Bank Alfalah awarded Rising Talent (a youth platform for their ideas to be converted to reality) trophies to the five-member team and should they win at the Formula SAE Lincoln, they can pursue their Master’s degrees in US besides receiving an honorable mention by Formula SAE Lincoln – an accolade to be added to their already sparkling resumes.
Go get ‘em boys!
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