NED students develop first fuel cell powered vehicle of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The students of the Department of Automotive Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Karachi have designed, fabricated and successfully tested Pakistan’s first fuel cell powered prototype vehicle, named TRIKE, utilizing a 1.2 kW Polymer Electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack.

Fuel cell converts the chemical energy of hydrogen into electrical energy and the by- product is water, so this technology is pollution free at the point of use. The vehicle has many unique features such as high mileage (approx 1140 km per kg of hydrogen), use of fuel cell stack and super capacitors for the first time in any vehicle made in Pakistan, and the electronic safety controls with micro controller. The vehicle was launched in the international event of Shell Eco-marathon held at Sepang, Malaysia in July, 2010. After passing through all the design and stringent safety tests conducted by the officials of the Shell Eco-Marathon event, the vehicle ran successfully on the track of Formula-1 Circuit, Sepang, Malaysia and successfully completed two laps. With the manufacturing of fuel cell vehicle, TRIKE , Pakistan has joined the efforts with developed countries towards building a culture of fuel cell powered vehicles, the most promising candidate for the future automotive industry. It may be mentioned here that the laboratory where stduents worked was established by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

Source: onepakistan.com