A cost-effective solution

To more serious matters...

...whether the supposed millions of rupees being put into the projects by teams is even worth it. Apart from the 'experience' and all this hogwash that we have been flagrantly believing in.

Whether the vehicles thus produced are even road-worthy, marketable, a long-term practical solution, or even slightly cost-effective...

So, without ado, let us first rule out the 'vehicles' from the prototype category. These are supposedly futuristic concepts with stellar mileages, but fact of today's life is that you don't go to the dentist in a coffin that is as comfortable as an iron maiden, even if it has got feminine curves on the outside.

Urban concept vehicles are slightly more car-ish, and with better fuel economies than today's production cars. But that doesn't answer the question of them being cost effective, does it? Student teams have been looking for money, technical support, material et al of between o.4 million to around 1.4 million (PKR).

The second fact of today's life is that you get a second-hand Mehran, not exactly good-looking but the steed for a big portion of the portion of people with cars, for less than 0.4 million. But, does it boast of the high mileages the students promise...no! But keep in mind that the third fact of life is that concentrating very heavily on when to turn the engine on or off is the last thing you want when navigating on Pakistani roads. And so, it is a simply a comparison of the relative driver comfort, mileages and initial costs between the Shell Eco Marathon vehicles and those already on the road today.

On the testimony of the results from previous years, working on such vehicles is well worth the effort!

However, the key to this is striking a balance. While there is nothing wrong with putting in effort for the greater good, if costs of such projects exceed the six digit mark, then one is led into thinking if THAT is worth a try too?

The new logo...

Behold!

The new logo of Kaar...well technically, it's not the 'new' logo as it is the first and only logo. The one on facebook was supposed to buy us time to have a proper one designed :-)

So...it does not exactly have the oomph of the BMW logo, a sacred animal as in the Ferrari logo, or the crass recognizability of the Mercedes logo...

In fact, the world might not change one bit...no hiccups, no tremors. People would still buy Hondas and Fiats. Ferrari would still dominate the Bahrain Grand Prix (actually, it just did). And Italian, well they would still be Italians.

But with the logo, we have shining light (actually, we don't, but what else do I write?) that would symbolize our struggle, that would remind us of our cause, that would instigate us into action (more of it that it), and that would tell us that in some ways, we have done in six months better than what Volkswagon, or Rolls Royce, or Honda, and most definitely Kia, could do in decades of engineering ;-)

Kaar, a symbol worthy of the cause, Kaar.

over-time

Mom, on coming home late on Thursday:

"Ye gaari hai ya larki?"

(Is this about a car or a girl?)

:-)

Learning from our mistakes

Even the best amongst us are liable to error. And we are mere mortals.

Only the following quote by Edison should suffice:

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

Obviously, this is not to mean that the present design harbingers success, for it could be another discovery from the realm of ways that don't work...only time will tell...

Here, there, everywhere

Trying to make a super-economy vehicle and making a super economy vehicle are, unfortunately, two different things.

We have been unsure whether the frame would actually hold, whether the body would wouldn't drag, that the engine would work at its good rpms...but what we have never been unsure is on the need for conservation.

There are real issues over vehicle emissions, over declining oil reserves and over rising oil prices. The dynamics of changing production are complex ranging from lesser available in future to politics. It is far difficult to produce more than to consume less. And that is the essence of conservation.

While our main focus has been on designing and fabricating a fuel efficient vehicle, spreading the message of conservation has not been of secondary importance. The message to conserve, to use less, with proper (common) sense, more efficiently, we have taken far and wide...

Here in Islamabad...

Nearby, in Taxilla...

Far away (350 km), in Lahore...

The emphasis of our presentations has been as much about our own project (the vehicle) as about the conservation, and while our success (or otherwise) on the track would be a subjective issue, the message we have taken hic-et-ubique will not.

simplex munditis

Simplex Munditis!

That's what...those who used to speak Latin...used to say...Simple and Elegant. This timeless maxim is more or less the fundamental of most design activities even today.

And it is this timeless maxim that a bunch of Bekaar people have used in the design of Kaar! At least the simple part.

No needless motors, no needless turbochargers, no needless super-capacitors...

No fancy framework...

Obviously, adherence to the fundamentals of vehicle dynamics was ensured, but the idea of keeping it simple at this stage of such a huge project for such a mega event, where success comes as much with time, experience and building upon work of previous years in addition to creativity and critical thinking, is much of what Kaar is all about.

In these initial stages of fabrications, the wisdom behind keeping it simple has been apparent.

Marching on...

March is a good month to...well...start marching.

It was with heavily palpitating hearts that we have (finallllllllllllllllly) started fabrication. So yeah, we are busy...don't expect much here.

Being involved with such a project for the first time, we feel that there are two things to making a fuel efficient vehicle. Making a vehicle, and making it fuel efficient.

For the time, lets just hope we do the first part right :-)