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This is the story of the first Saudi car,
and the first Arabian team to participate
in the World Solar Challenge,
but what happened?
and what changed the course of events?
"[Wahj]... Between the Sun and Flames"
We say it, truth be told, it's a story to tell.
The matter of this car, today we've seen it,
but when we recall and see its story...
It's a beautiful story and should be replicated.
I mean from a youth who's age is 20 or 21 years,
this indicates self-confidence,
indicates confidence in his qualifications,
indicates confidence in his
institute and its support
All these things are from
the requirements for success
after the almighty God's will.
It truly is a story in every sense of the word.
With the massive worldwide depletion of oil,
estimated at eighty million barrels daily,
an urgent question is frequented
on what is the next energy source.
Definitely, the entirety of the
world's search will be focused on
a sustainable renewable source
through different resources
It is said that if the
Empty Quarter was covered
entirely by solar cells
and for an entire year,
then it would produce energy
four times what would
be produced from oil in the same time frame,
but there would remain an important question
on the size of the required costs to cover
such an area with expensive solar cells
compared to the costs of
extracting oil found in nature.
However, solar energy will remain the first
alternative, and the world's new approach.
Similar to how God the almighty graced the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the blessing of oil,
he also graced it with a strategic,
geographic, and distinct location
that makes solar energy a more ideal
alternative or a strategic choice
to generate energy instead of fossil fuels.
From here came the idea,
[Seraaj]is a student team from King Fahd
University of Petroleum and Minerals
under the supervision of [Dr.Amro Al-Qutub].
The team manufactured the car
which functions using solar energy
to participate with it in
the World Solar Challenge
which cuts the continent of Australia from
its north in Darwin to its south in Adelaide,
a distance of nearly three
thousand kilometers in six days.
Is [Wahj] the first Saudi car?!
And what about the cars that we hear are the
first cars manufactured in Saudi Arabia?!
This question is always repeated on [Seraaj Team].
We respond by saying that Saudi Arabia entered
the list of countries that manufacture cars
with the car [Wahj].
The story is when the team wanted to acquire a
Vehicle Identification Number or chassis number
they contacted the SAE organization in America.
and it's the only organization in the world
responsible for issuing chassis numbers.
Their response was that Saudi Arabia
never registered a chassis number before,
and there isn't a country
specific code for the country.
The team then chose a code
specific to Saudi Arabia.
"RS" was chosen, as it was one of the closest co
des available in the list indicating Saudi Arabia.
The meaning of this, is that any car
manufactured in Saudi Arabia after that
must begin with this code,
and the serial number for [Wahj] was "001".
After that,
it was approved by the responsible party,
and then sent us the chassis
number and the certificate.
With this date, "the 30th of September 2011",
Saudi Arabia officially entered within
the countries manufacturing cars.
Additionally, the team and car's names
were borrowed from this holy verse.
***QURANIC VERSE***
Thus, [Seraaj] makes [Wahj]
hoping that it will be a new groundbreaking
to see our nation, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
in the leading ranks of the
major industrial nations.
Here are the names for the second
generation of Seraaj Team.
His excellency, [Dr.Khaled Alsultan],
and [Dr.Amro Al-Qutub].
[Mr.Abdulsalam Al-Abdulsalam], and [Eng.
Mohammed Abusharifah].
[Mohammed Al-Marzoky], and [Mohammed Al-Wahaibi].
[Hussam Al-Nammary], and [Hassan Al-Ahdal].
[Hisham Al-Saif], and [Ismail Al-Rawi].
[Ali Al-Sallameen], and [Abdulrahman Al-Sonayen].
[Faisal Al-Rashid], and [Sadeq Al-Nemer].
[Khaled Al-Shehri], and [Abdulrahman Al-Bassam].
[Chihab Eddine Barrimi],
and [Abdulaziz Al-Ghamdi].
[Mohammed Al-Sultan], and [Raad Al-Shareef].
[Abdulrahman Rizq], and [Ahmed Al-Nemer].
and [Faisal Bamusa].
After the success achieved by the first car,
where it was the first Arabian
presence in the race in the year 2011.
After that, the team determined to participate
again in the 2013 race with the car .
but this time, will return to compete.
Of course, this is still the beginning of the team
after the first successful participation, thank God.
Now, the team aspires to be among
the top ten participating teams
in the World Solar Challenge in
Australia for the year 2013.
There are numerous differences
between the cars [Wahj1] and [Wahj2],
most notably, is that the former is with three
wheels and the latter is with four wheels
as per the regulations for every event.
This means a drastic change in the mechanical
systems and the electrical systems.
Everything starts with a hypothetical design.
The design and simulation unit does this task.
The car's frame, made of Chrome Moly Steel alloy,
along with the arms and tyres, weigh 90 kilograms.
and with it, the car withstands five times its
own weight in case of a collision, God forbid.
The car's body however, was manufactured
this time completely from carbon fiber.
The team has learned from the first car,
when the upper part was from Kevlar,
that despite being a good insulator when it comes
to the solar cell's electrical connections,
it was less stiff and easier to bend.
Therefore, the entire car body was
composed this time from the following.
A first layer of carbon fiber that is
strengthened by adding to it an Epoxy substance,
that becomes hard after a
few hours from placing it.
Then, slices of honeycomb are
added to act as a main support,
and are similar in function to
the skeleton in the human body,
and similar in shape to the hexagonal beehive
such that it becomes stronger and lighter.
It is then followed by another
identical layer of carbon fiber.
Thus,
every part of the car is manufactured separately,
the upper part, the lower part,
the skirts, the car's tail, and its nose.
We realized from research and reading,
that the difference between the teams during the ra
ce is the focus on how energy is consumed in the car.
And what consumes the most
energy in the car is two things.
The car's streamlined shape,
which is its aerodynamics,
and the tyre's friction with the road.
Even though the car's weight
is important in general,
we tried as much as possible to lower weight.
In the first car [Wahj1],
the weight was 214 kilograms.
In the second, we put effort to
lower the weight to 190 kilograms.
For the tyre's friction, a student group designed and man
ufacture the rolling resistance machine as a senior project.
The purpose of this machine is to measure
the tyre's rolling resistance coefficient,
and ultimately, to minimize the tyre's friction,
and lessen energy consumption in the car.
For the car's body, the part that collides with the air t
he most is the driver's cockpit, or what we call the canopy.
We designed and manufactured it in this project
from zero in the way and dimensions that we wanted.
In the start of manufacturing,
we began dividing our design into equal sections.
Then, pieces of wooden panels and
foam are cut into these measurements.
The foam was used such that it is formed
into the desired shape by sanding.
and the wooden panels help us to
retain the dimensions at each point.
Then, we attach it to the upper part of
the car to bring the designs to reality.
Of course after we place the foam and wood,
or the plug, on the car,
we have three materials that we use,
four layers by three materials.
The first layer is the bondo layer or the putty.
This layer is like a paste that is put
on the canopy or the foam and wood,
so we can get the initial shape of the canopy,
and then we put a layer of fiber glass.
The purpose of this layer is to prevent chemical
materials from affecting the shape of the canopy.
because after this step,
we will add many chemicals.
Therefore, in order to not damage the canopy or
the foam in it, we put this layer of fiber glass.
After the fiber glass, we put a third layer
made of bondo, the same as we used before,
such that we get a smooth shape, or a smooth feel.
The final layer before casting is the gel coat.
Gell coat is an orange viscous liquid
that is sprayed on the canopy.
After a while, it hardens, and with this step, the can
opy's shape is ready and is finalized and doesn't change.
Of course, after that we sand it and it
becomes ready for casting or molding.
During this stage,
we begin manufacturing the mold.
Manufacturing the mold is done by
using fifteen layers of fiber glass.
After every three layers,
we need to expose it to the sun until it dries,
and at the same time, work must progress
continuously from beginning to end.
It took roughly twelve hours of work,
and a group of members worked on it in succession.
When we're done with the canopy's
mold or driver's cockpit,
we had to make a furnace that can help us form
the polycarbonate into the shape that we wanted.
This furnace wasn't in the market,
so we had to make it ourselves.
We used this furnace more than once,
and every time, the polycarbonate was
deformed worse than the previous one.
Then, we decided to use carbon fiber
instead of polycarbonate to make the canopy
because we concluded that polycarbonate
is very difficult to handle,
and thank God, it was a good decision.
After we did the casting of the canopy, we cut g
lass openings in the canopy so the driver can see,
and after a lengthy job, thank God,
we were able to finish this part of the car
that took us more than three months to complete.
The mold of the car's body, made of fiberglass,
was worked on for two months continuosly.
and when we spread out the total sanded area,
it becomes about six hundred square meters.
Of course, this task took this much time,
because we wanted the mold,
after casting the car's body,
to be as streamlined as possible,
because after this step, after sanding,
we put it in the furnace.
In this process,
the car's body must be as streamlined as possible
because any problem in the car's
body will have clear effects,
and this thing will impact the
car's performance in the race,
which is what we try to avoid as much as possible.
After finishing manufacturing the car mechanically, he
re comes the role of the members of the electrical group.
especially in the efficiency
of the car's performance
because we deal with many variables in the race.
For example, in the last two days we will be
in South Australia, and this area is cloudy,
therefore, we wont get the same energy
as in the beginning of the race.
Such small things is what makes the difference
between the leading teams and the lagging teams.
Of course, there are many parts
in the car's electrical systems
such as the battery, the solar cells,
the motor, and others,
but, we can consider the heart or mastermind
behind all these parts to be the "*** Box".
Of course,
it receives information from all of these systems,
processes it, resends these commands,
and display information the driver
needs through the screens near him.
Therefore, the connections for the
*** box will be very plentiful.
As a result,
one must be precise and organized in such things
because if any problem occurs during the race,
one can know the source of the
problem so he can solve it.
For the battery, we chose the type Lithium Ion.
since this type has the highest storage
capacity for the lowest weight.
because we're limited by the race organizers
by certain regulations and a certain weight.
We designed the battery to
contain 442 Lithium Ion cells
connected by copper plates in series and in
parallel base on the car's requirements.
We got assistance from the mechanical
group to design the battery case
and the ventilation and insulation systems
After we finished the battery,
we were contacted by the race organizers
and told us that the battery type we used would r
esult in excess weight more than the required limit.
We had to lower the number of
cells from 442 cells to 432 cells.
In every time we took the
battery to put it in the car,
we made sure that all the car's connections
were made in a correct and safe manner.
The car depends on its motion on an electric
motor attached to the rear right wheel.
Inside the this motor, we have two plates.
Through the control of the
distance between those two plates
we can control the motor's performance.
The power coming from the solar cells, which is conver
ted into electrical power, is roughly equal to 1293 Watt.
Meaning, the electrical power required to
operate all the electrica systems in the car
is roughly equal to the electrical power required
to operate some household electrical
appliances such as a kettle.
During one of the critical periods of the project
[Dr.Amro Al-Qutub] had a sudden
and unforeseen medical condition,
which would put him under
intensive care for a long time.
This meant that the students had
to continue the project alone.
And when the students finished a significant
part of the electrical and mechanical systems,
a tour had to be done for testing it before
the final assembly on the car's body,
and the destination was... to the doctor's home.
***Radio Communications***
And when the doctor started to recover
he returned to continue working,
and appeared to be exhausted and tired,
but preferred to stay with the team
until finishing the project completely.
Now, the car's manufacturing is complete.
It was covered and fixed into
the cage in a good manner.
in preparation for shipping it from
King Fahd University to Sydney Airport.
Then, it will continue its course by
road freight until the city of Darwin,
the starting line of the race.
One degree, one percent inclination
is about half a degree more or less.
Meaning, when you're driving on the road...
And until the time of the race arrives,
the team was distributing tasks
and studying their possibilities well.
Then, before the time of the race, three
members traveled to Australia for preparation.
The team's own garage was received in the
testing and qualifications racetrack.
The rest of the team were on their way to travel.
However, something unexpected happened.
The course of events turned
to what none has anticipated.
On the morning of the team's flight to Australia,
I got a message from the guys
over there in Australia.
They said: "[Mohammed], suspend all the team's
activities and the things related to it"
such as flight tickets, reservations, etc...
"Up to now, don't tell anyone"
Why do we stop? I don't know
We were in Australia, me,
[Mohammed Al-Marzoky], and [Hisham Al-Saif],
preparing stuff for the race to welcome the
rest of the team members from Saudi Arabia.
I was team coordinator with the shipping company,
and on that day,
after some preparations and other things,
we thought,
let's make sure from the shipping company.
When is the car's arrival?
They gave us news that the car and
shipment will arrive tomorrow morning.
We said perfect,
and decided to rest and have lunch.
And suddenly, during our comfort time,
we get a call from the head
of the transporting company
telling us that the car was completely burned.
On the road from Sydney to Darwin,
The transporting truck was towing three trailers,
one of them contained.
Another trailer contained the car of another team,
and the third contained food materials.
The fire broke out from one of the trailers.
The driver was able to save what could be saved,
and was able to detach the
trailer of the other team.
However,
the car was completely consumed by the flames.
When we know that the team spent more
than fifteen thousand work hours
to finish this project and manufacture the car,
and when we know that work was continual,
and uninterrupted even during
vacations and Al-Eid holidays,
Then, we wouldn't be surprised if
the news was a shock to everyone.
At the time, [Dr.Amro Al-Qutub] met with
the other team members in Saudi Arabia
to tell them what happened there.
I have very important news,
and it's a bit tough on the team,
but its God the Almighty's will.
Two days ago, the car was on the road to Darwin,
unfortunately,
the trailer containing it was burned.
So, the car was burned with the trailer.
I had a talk with his excellency,
the Rector, today,
and I informed him of this bad news
An he was really affected,
and he said he wanted to
meet you at 12:15 tomorrow.
This is of course.
We all believe in God's will,
and I said to myself,
Thank god it happened to the car,
and not to any one of you.
Some of them were taken to
talk in front of the camera.
They were betrayed by their words,
and a lot was hidden behind fake smiles.
This is the fire going to the other trailer.
Our car was in which trailer,
was it the first one.
This is our car.
Nothing is visible from it.
I think the shock was *** every team member,
but, thank god.
I don't know what to say honestly.
This is the picture of the car.
If you notice, this is the cage here,
and this is our car.
It's gone and it's over.
There is nothing left.
No there isn't anything left.
This is the fire consuming the. .
Are you sure?
Don't... .
This is the guys when they first got the news.
Tell us what you feel at this present time.
Wait a moment, I still don't. . I have to. .
I still don't believe.
Nothing.
God's will is always for the best.
It could have, God forbid,
have affected one of you.
And this to us is worth the car
and a hundred more like it.
God has pushed away harm, from us all,
and all he wants is the best for us.
We always assume we know whats best,
but whats best for us is what God chooses for us.
The most important thing for today,
is that you keep your spirits up as a team.
It is like you won.
From my point of view,
and I strove to have all
the department heads, the vice rector, the deans,
and [Dr.Amro Al-Qutub] , be with you today.
I wanted to tell you with all sincerity,
I swear to god that there isn't
even a thousandth of a difference,
between you being here today,
or had you come back winners.
Because I know the effort you spent.
And I know our faith in you and your work.
Thank god. And only what god wanted has happened.
After the accident, the teams name was withdrawn
from the list of participating teams.
And the car was transported to the
office of the investigator in Brisbane.
And we are waiting for the
rest of the investigation.
We hope that the university help as much as it can
in easing all the problems that were
faced during [Wahj1] and [Wahj2].
And that it supports the team
in a more clear for [Wahj3].
[Seraaj Team] is still active
and it's spirits are high.
And is now working on designing [Wahj3],
to participate in the World Solar Challenge 2015,
with a better car, a larger team,
and filled with more experience.
Although the teams participation
in the World Solar Challenge
in Australia for the year 2013 was halted,
but what is certain,
is that [Seraaj Team] has come to stay.
We hope that our future projects,
are beautiful in their beginnings,
and pleasant in their endings.