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Electrifying win!
Four final year students of D Y Patil College of Engineering with a need for speed pool resources, make electric sports bike. They then participate in Time Trial Xtreme Grand Prix, UK, and finish third
Manoj Bidkar
Posted On Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 12:53:56 AM
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Two years and Rs 25 lakh later, they build what is arguably the country’s fastest electric bike. The team That’s exactly what Ketan Mhasawade (20), Krunal Nanavati (21), Kapil Shelke (21) and Pankaj Gosavi (21), final year students of the D Y Patil College of Engineering, did. Their creation, an electric sports bike, which they say can attain speeds of up to 150 kmph, was placed third at the Time Trial Xtreme Grand Prix (TTXGP). TTXGP is promoted as the inaugural Zero Carbon, Zero Emission Grand Prix. The competition They called their team Tork India and Kapil was the team leader. Kapil told Pune Mirror, “There were 16 teams participating from seven countries. We participated in the Open category. The other category was the Pro category which had major OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) participating, some of whom had invested over Rs 7 crore in their bikes.” The event The TTXGP was held on June 12 at the Isle of Man, UK. The TTXGP is a time trail race where riders have to complete 60 km in a single charge. Making the machine Kapil said the most important part of making the bike was designing a chassis. The fact that an electric bike has to hold batteries means that a readymade chassis of an available petrol powered platform cannot be incorporated into the design. “The team started with an idea to make a sports motorcycle that can match and compete with a petrol-driven motorcycle and still make no compromises in handling, range and speed.
We got help from Bajaj Auto and ARDE (Armament Research and Development Lab). We modelled it on Catia. Apart from the chassis, we had to import a lot of parts like the controller which we got from China and the throttle from Austria. As mechanical engineers, it took us a whole year to understand the basics of EV and to implement it to motorcycle frame and dynamics,” Kapil said. The bike was manufactured at Bhosari-based Tirupathi Engineers, which is owned by Kapil’s father, Chandrakant Shelke. The project was funded in toto by the parents of the students. The total figure of Rs 25 lakh involved designing and manufacturing the bike, including sourcing and importing components, exporting the bike to the Isle of Man and bringing it back again. About the future The team is planning to participate in a world championship level competiton in August next year again in the Isle of Man and are currently looking for sponsors. And they are aiming high. Said Kapil, “We as a team want to change the perception of electric motorcycles in India.” (With inputs from Vishal Gangawane) |
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05:16:18 PM