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Electric cars made by Indonesian students featured at Jakarta motor show
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The Kaliurang Unisi Generasi 2.2 was invented by students of Ulil Albab Student Center (UASC) of Indonesia Islamic University (UII), Yogyakarta. (JP/Steven)
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tudents from three local universities displayed their electric cars during the 2018 Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS) , which runs from April 19 to 29 at JIExpo Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.
The move is in line with the Industry Ministry's road map that includes having a minimum of 20 percent electric vehicles in Indonesia by 2025.
Below are the electric cars presented by the students:
Marsella 3 Evo 1
The white car Marsella 3 Evo 1 is the brainchild of mechanical engineering students from Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java. It previously won the third place at the 2017 Energy Saving Car Contest (KMHE) that was held by Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry and the fourth place at the Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2018.
“We design this car to be energy-efficient, hence it supposed to be able to travel a maximum distance using a minimum battery consumption,” Putu Ngurah “Rian” Riandika, one of the students, told The Jakarta Post, adding that the single-occupant vehicle is able to travel a maximum of 144 km/kWh after about two hours of charging time.
The car is said to be made from Kevlar with polycarbonate as the car glass. “One of the purposes is to decrease the friction. We designed it to be as aerodynamic as possible,” Rian said.
Together with his teammates, Abdi Afifuddin Zuhri and Rachmat Hidayat, the group built the car for five months with the body part is said to be the most difficult part to make. “We made the pattern first, followed by the mold, then we started to manufacture the body,” Rian said.
The team is seeking to participate at the KMHE this year or next year, either bringing the current car they have or making a new one.
Kaliurang Unisi Generasi 2.2 and PitX
The Kaliurang Unisi Generasi 2.2 was invented by the students of Ulil Albab Student Center (UASC) of Indonesia Islamic University (UII) Yogyakarta. Shaped like a race car, 60 percent of the electric car was handmade.
“Its body was made from composite fiber; we also welded the iron and assembled the battery ourselves,” Rian, one of the team members, said.
Said to be able to withstand a maximum driver weight of 55 kilograms, the car is able to reach a distance of 10 kilometers with only 40 percent battery. “It should also be able to reach 20 kilometers, but we haven’t tested it yet,” said Rian.
The car uses an Android operating system as the key, as well as a particular username and password to turn on the engine. “We can set whether we want the car to move forward or backward; it has an autopilot system that can be controlled from a far,” said Rian, adding that there is a special box for Android smartphone on the steering wheel.
Created in six months, the Kaliurang Unisi Generasi 2.2 has the ability to alert driver about its current status, such as when it is overheat, via Facebook and Twitter using Internet of Things (IoT) technology. It also uses telemetry technology that is often applied in F1 and MotoGP, which enables both driver and the team to learn about the car’s status, starting from battery performance to engine condition. “
Read also: President Jokowi optimistic about electric cars in Indonesia
In the future, the team plans to create a new car to be entered to the 2018 Student Formula Japan automobile competition.
Aside of making the electric car, the team also made an electric bike, PitX. Launched by last year, PitX is said to have different characteristics compared to the widely produced electric bike.
“In general, the electric bike has a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour, but it can reach up to 60 kilometers per hour,” said Amelia, another member of the team, adding that the distance can even goes up to 100 kilometers per hour.
PitX has its own particular charging component that can fill up the battery after only 40 minutes of charging time. “But when using the onboard charging standard, [the charging time] takes about four hours,” Amelia said.
However, the bike might be quite costly if it is released commercially. “It’s currently a prototype and was manufactured using basic materials. [The commercial price] could reach Rp 100 million [US$7,188],” Amelia said, adding that the high price was due to the expensive battery that was made of lithium and real carbon fiber.
“If it’s going to be sold for public, we’d replace it with simpler components to lower the price.”
Arjuna
Arjuna is the name of an electric race car made by students from Gajah Mada University (UGM), Yogyakarta. Formed in 2013, the team has won many competitions, including the 2016 National Electric Car Competition for Best Technology category.
“We have participated in national competitions since 2012,” said Adhimukti, one of the team members. “In the last two years we also competed internationally, such as at the 2017 Formula Student Automotive Engineers in Japan where the participants came from 100 universities worldwide.”
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Made from fiber glass for economical reason and can be driven by a person without maximum weight limit, the electric vehicle is able to reach 100 kilometers per hour speed with around 20 to 30-km mileage. The team is trying to decrease the charging time as it currently requires three hours to fill up the battery.
As a long-term plan, the team is seeking to make an electric city car, but they deliberately began with a race car instead to maintain a higher safety standard.
Moreover, they are also doing research on battery management system (BMS) to better manage the battery. (kes)
