Nigerian Engineering Student Converts A Beetle Into a $6,000 Wind & Solar-Powered Car!

Nigerian student Segun Oyeyiola converted a Volkswagen Beetle into a wind- and solar-powered car perfect for the country’s extreme weather. A student at Obafemi Awolowo University, Oyeyiola completed the project for just $6,000 using mostly scrap parts donated by friends and family. Proving that everyone can make a difference with the right attitude and a bit of ingenuity, Oyeyiola still has improvements to make on his vehicle and he’s determined to make it perfect.

The retrofitted Beetle comes equipped with a giant solar panel on the roof and a wind turbine under the hood that takes advantage of airflow while the car is in motion. To ensure the car doesn’t buckle under the weight of all the additional eco-friendly tech, Oyeyiola also installed a super strong suspension system.

While many people are still in denial about the seriousness of climate change and its impending effects, the engineering senior is under no such delusions. He told FastCoExist in an email, “I wanted to reduce carbon dioxide emissions going to our atmosphere that lead to climate change or global warming which has become a new reality, with deleterious effect: seasonal cycles are disrupted, as are ecosystems; and agriculture, water needs and supply, and food production are all adversely affected.” His concern for the environment motivated Oyeyiola to donate so much of his time and energy to create this amazing piece of design.

Currently, the battery takes four to five hours to charge, which makes it less than ideal, but the car is still in the early stages of design. As you can imagine, sourcing the materials needed isn’t easy in Nigeria, plus Oyeyiola had to face the criticism of other people who thought it was a waste of time. Now that he’s got a working prototype, the plan is to take his finals and then get straight back to work trying to improve the design until it becomes “Nigeria’s future car.”

Below is an animation of a solar/wind powered car, showing how batteries are charged via the multiple turbines.