Mumbai: A 63-year-old man from Bangalore has travelled a distance of 3,000 km in a self-made solar-powered car. Syed Sajjan Ahmed started his journey on November 1 and reached Delhi from Bangalore exactly one month later on December 1.
According to media reports, Ahmed has travelled to the capital city to participate in India’s first International Science Fair.
Ahmed was born in Kolar, a place located 70 Km from Bangalore. The class 12 dropout said that he was initially a fruit vendor and later went on to set-up an electrical repair shop.
He dealt with various electronic and computer peripherals before moving on to his childhood dream of helping the society. The man who had to leave school for carrying out family duties pointed out that he always ‘kept the fire burning within him’ to build something that would benefit humanity.
Ahmed started off his venture in 2002 by modifying two wheelers to run on electricity, then three wheelers, and finally four wheelers. Earlier, he also managed to bag an award from the Karnataka government for environment protection.
Ahmed said that the car he has designed sports a set of five solar panels, each having a power of 100 watts. The vehicle also has six battery cells, each with a capacity of 12 volts and 100 amps.
He is proud that his invention survived through the rigorous 3,000 km trek. According to him, the total cost of his caravan-like vehicle is 1 lakh.
He has covered a total distance of 1.1 lakh Km in his four-wheeler across the country and was accompanied by his cousin Salim Pasha. Ahmed also pointed out that his next destination would be to his idol Dr. Kalam’s hometown Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu.
Currently he is touring all around the country in the for-wheeler to spread “inspire, ignite, innovate, and educate the public” and fulfil Kalam’s vision 2020 for uplifiting the country.
