A team of engineering students of the department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri campus, won the Overall Championship title at the National Solar Vehicle Challenge (NSVC) 2019. The event was organised by Dynamists Motors Sports Pvt Ltd. under the ‘Make in India’ scheme and was held at Reva University, Bengaluru, from February 28 to March 4, 2019. The team won the championship in the first edition of NSVC in 2017.

The team known as ‘Mavericks’ designed and indigenously developed a three-wheeled, solar assisted, battery driven vehicle named ‘Astra’, meaning the arrow. Following the virtual round and critically evaluated technical inspection, ‘Astra’ was tested for its design and performance in various static and dynamic rounds, viz., acceleration-brake test, off-road, cross road, drag race, solar endurance and vehicle endurance.

Proving a tough competitor to the 13 teams from all over India, Mavericks bagged the first place in acceleration-brake test, solar endurance, vehicle endurance and emerged as the overall champion of the third edition of NSVC.

In the solar endurance test, the car cruised seamlessly without any support from battery, where solar power was the only feeding source for ‘Astra’. In the vehicle endurance round, the car covered 3 laps of 24 km each, through the National Highway with normal traffic. Leaving the other competing vehicles far behind, ‘Astra’ victoriously completed the round at first place without stopping even once.

The team was awarded prize money of Rs. 1.25 lakhs, a trophy for the overall championship and certificates.

‘Team Mavericks’ was efficiently guided and supported by Mr. Bharath K. R., Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri.

Another group of students from the team ‘Mavericks’, under the mentorship of Assistant Professors of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, Mr. Bharath K. R. and Ms. Jayasree P. R., with the support of Mr. Sreenivasan M. K., Lab instructor, won the Gravity award for ‘Astra’, being the lightest vehicle, in the Saur Urja Vehicle Challenge(SUVC-2019) held on March 3, 2019. The event was jointly organized by Refrangible Society (RSTE) and Hindusthan College of Engineering and Technology at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. ‘Astra’ was well applauded for its exceptional design and outstanding performance in various rounds of the competition.

With continued inspiration from Sri. Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, the Chancellor of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, the department of Electrical Engineering, under the focused guidance of its Chairperson, Dr. Manjula G. Nair, has been working on many state-of-the-art research projects in recent years.

The students acknowledged the whole-hearted support rendered by Mr. Ahil M. S., Lab Instructor, and other staffs members of the department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.