Hailing from Srinagar’s Sanat Nagar, Bilal Ahmed achieved the milestone after 11 years of hard work and research
In a first, Bilal Ahmed, a Mathematics teacher and innovator from the capital city of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, has invented an affordable electric car that runs on solar energy.
Hailing from Srinagar’s Sanat Nagar, Ahmed has achieved the milestone after 11 years of hard work and research.
Ahmad’s innovation has spread on social media like wildfire. Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah also tweeted about Ahmed’s achievement saying, “It seems the car could one day also fly. The car has solar panels on the body and a charging point inside”.
Ahmed’s wish to manufacture a luxurious car, but affordable for commoners, made him study cars made since the 50s.
He was inspired by the work of an engineer and innovator from Detroit in the US who owned the automobile company DMC.
“Cars like Mercedes, Ferrari, BMW are a dream for a common person,” he said, and added, “Only the rich can afford such cars. I thought it would be great to allow people a feeling of luxuriousness through this innovation.”
Ahmed began by modifying the car after watching various videos and adding new features to it.
“In the beginning, I planned to make a car for the disabled, but due to some financial issues, I could not carry the project forward,” he said.
In 2009, the self-taught innovator embarked on a project to create a solar-run luxury car and completed the project this year.
He said the car has the features at par with other luxury cars. The car solely runs on the electrical energy which is generated by the monocrystalline solar panels.
Ahmed has used this specific type of solar panels because they generate maximum electricity even in the least solar energy they are exposed to, and also that the panels are efficient and occupy a low surface area.
The car is fully automatic and has gullwing doors to take care of the space constraints.
“No one provided me with any financial assistance,” he said. “If I had got the necessary support, perhaps I would have become Elon Musk of Kashmir.”
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