Proton Green Mobility Challenge 2012 – local university students to create their own ‘Saga EV’, finals in October

Proton Green Mobility Challenge 2012 – local university students to create their own ‘Saga EV’, finals in October

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak yesterday launched the Proton Green Mobility Challenge 2012 (PGMC), a challenge jointly organised by Proton and Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) that will see local uni students develop an electric vehicle from a standard internal combustion engine powered Proton Saga.

The participating universities are UTP, UNITEN, UTeM, UNIKL MSI, UMP, UNISEL, IIUM, UTM, UNIMAP and UKM. Each team will modify the Saga according and compete in the finals, which will be held from 4-7 October this year. Each car’s performance will be put to the test and four factors will be taken into account – distance achieved, quarter mile acceleration, fastest time for two laps, and top speed.

Proton Green Mobility Challenge 2012 – local university students to create their own ‘Saga EV’, finals in October

The organisers say that PGMC 2012 is in line with AIM’s objectives of facilitating wealth creation via innovation. The statutory body serves to formulate and implement the strategies towards enhancing the national innovation eco-system and creating new-wave wealth from innovation in the country.

“Sustainable mobility is dependent on three equally critical components coming together; firstly the ability of car manufacturers to commercially make available a new generation of vehicles in the most cost-efficient manner.

“Secondly, the willingness and support of Governments and policy makers in formulating long-term legislations which would not only enable car manufacturers to map out future investment plans but pave the way for what is thirdly, greater consumer awareness for green technology and their acceptance of alternative fuel propulsion systems such as hybrids and electric vehicles,” said Proton Group MD Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin.

Proton Green Mobility Challenge 2012 – local university students to create their own ‘Saga EV’, finals in October

Like the Perodua Eco Challenge, this challenge allows undergrads to practice what they learn – nothing like competition to bring the best out of us, right? Anyway, while there could possibly be a trick or two that can be learned from PGMC entries, Proton already has competition winning EV technology under development.

Read our live report on the RAC Future Car Challenge Brighton to London here, where Proton won two awards competing against the world’s best EVs. Also click here for our exclusive drive report of the actual Saga EV.

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Danny Tan

Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.

 

Comments

  • pumpkin on Mar 01, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    malaysian want GREEN, stop Lynas pls.

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  • go naza on Mar 01, 2012 at 1:12 pm

    is it because they dont have R&D to do it? need student’s help?

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    • No, it is because they want to help develop the technical capabilities of research communities in local universities. Partnerships and competitions like this are common in the USA and is a big win-win-win situation for the companies, for the universities and for the students involved.

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    • ss427 on Mar 01, 2012 at 5:09 pm

      that’s a good one LOL :)

      Lets hope these Proton can remain ermm ‘mobile’ throughout the race haha :D

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      • Rulered on Mar 01, 2012 at 7:40 pm

        Oh didn’t you know they’ve already won last years RAC Brighton to London competition in fact they won 2 awards.
        Anyway should have ask the students to get more into biodiesel plus electric or either one, it’ll be more interesting though. Cheers!

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      • typical case of tin kosong basher…pffft…

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      • Scrude on Mar 02, 2012 at 12:58 am

        im surprised at your level of ignorance and perhaps…stupidity?reading paul tan is good but I also encourage you to read more…so you can refrain yourself from giving stupid comment like you did just now.

        LOL back at you…at your ignorance to be precise~

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    • if what you say is true, then lot of MNC out there like intel, motorola, philips freescale also dont have RnD thus need student help.. sigh.. if it comes to proton then wanna bash.

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    • Researchers will conduct the research, not students. Do not speak if have no sufficient knowledge.

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  • deftones on Mar 01, 2012 at 1:33 pm

    good move..get something from various input is 1 good way to produce a product..but i think proton also should seek for new engines. to accommodate campro to all line up is just boring..although campro has some good capability..

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    • bobdbilder on Mar 01, 2012 at 9:40 pm

      daft and ignorant. Congratulations you’ve got it covered.

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  • nawawi123 on Mar 01, 2012 at 4:21 pm

    Wat a waste of time and resources at this point of time..
    Show some urgency DSZ and source a darn engine
    for your Emas concept which is lying in the junk yard gathering dust.
    Proton just posted a loss of 84mil and everyone is still taking it easy.!!

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    • Abuya on Mar 01, 2012 at 6:49 pm

      Apa yang ko kentut ni? Terminum susu getah?

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    • bobdbilder on Mar 01, 2012 at 10:10 pm

      RM 5.92 billion of revenue giving them only -RM36.5 million based on 3rdQ performance. That’s a -6% of earnings against revenue.

      If you spread it out, Proton can earn RM 650 million a month. The last three month of the year was a doozy coz it was end of the year where you do expect low volumes. It happens every year to all. Even with 30% down on sales, they’ll make RM 455 million a month.

      So what is the fuss? Don’t understand Financial Statements ah? Kesian

      Isn’t it too obvious; the PEDA issue and now Q3 results that supposed to sound really bad but it isn’t?

      Its all this bad news fuss conjured up to let people sell off the massive shares of Proton they’ve bought before Khazanah sold to DRB. Does not look like its working though. It stands at RM 5.43 The lower the shares go, the less MGO payout lah… Itu pun kena cerita ke? Shredding off non institutional buyers. Sheesh! Amatuers!

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      • bobdbilder on Mar 02, 2012 at 5:02 pm

        Sorry I was wrong. My chepua didn’t work properly.

        The loss is 0.6% of total revenue. Something they could cover in a month I guess.

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  • driver on Mar 02, 2012 at 12:51 am

    Finally! Good effort.

    Not just P1, but all other companies should fully benefit this kind of work. As somebody mentioned above, this kind of win-win situation has long been conducted in the US. I believe US graduates should be familiar with this – final year project involving the outside company. The academicians (mostly at universities) should be the think tank to tackle issues of the country, and sustainability transportation is indeed one of it.

    My real question is however, does P1 do this really for the sake of blooming new ideas, or just part of CSR to get tax exemption? Hopefully, the ideas proposed from the competition can be translated for greater benefit. Even if the proposed technology is new, don’t be afraid to invest on it if it has potential. When talking about green-tech, I can’t help but to ask those who are in R&D to fully utilize the solar energy that our country is blessed with. In the west, they don’t invest on it because they’re not exposed to sun as long as we do.

    Perhaps an electric vehicle that could make use the solar energy to recharge the battery would be something to think about. So we don’t have to solely rely on regenerative braking technology like Toyota’s.

    Looking forward to look for the proposed solutions from all of the participants.
    Cheers~

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  • joepng on Mar 02, 2012 at 3:59 pm

    Y U NO USM?argh..go die lahhh..

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  • malaysia = small country.if every 1 person,1car = jammed+everybody ranting on national car makers dont build cars worth the price+oil price hikes+hutang hutang hutang berapa tahun???+sighing on living in malaysia (proton/any other car in other countries cheaper than here)+safety features failed..etc etc.solution?upgrade public transport to be like china,japan etc.no need to do this thing

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  • The electric motor and batteries are actually given.

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  • The electric motor and batteries are actually given

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