Shaheer Ahmed
Young students in the NUST university’s Formula Electric Racing NUST (FERN) programme aim to improve and create the world’s first electric racing vehicle. Tesla Inc., a multibillion dollar manufacturer of electric vehicles, has joined FERN as a creative partner. Despite the fact that FERN has also attracted numerous other foreign partners, this is by far the program’s greatest success.
Pakistan is one of the six nations taking part in the Formula SAE Lincoln 2016 tournament. Pakistan’s first-ever Formula Electric Car was created by a five-person team of undergraduate students from NUST six years ago. FERN was the only team to represent not just Pakistan but all of Asia, even though 30 teams from 6 countries were able to qualify for the competition.
This partnership Tesla and NUST can prove to be a game-changer for FERN, as it can allow FERN to get optimum quality guidance and financial support. Tesla has promised to provide technical support, technology sharing, and essential components for electric vehicle (EV) development from the global pioneer in the EV arena which would help FERN up-scale their product.
The way this Tesla and NUST partnership worked out was, FERN team reached out to Tesla Inc. looking for a collaboration. And looking at the impressive potential and sensing the bright future of the program, Tesla agreed to become its partner. And rightly so, as FERN’s current model has some of the best specs and numbers, its current project car uses a 5 kWh battery that is good for a range of 22 km. It has a top speed of 120 kph and can go from a standstill to 100 kph in just 4.5 seconds, making it a quicker accelerating vehicle than most cars on Pakistani roads
The team is currently working on developing several in-house components that it plans to integrate into the upcoming iterations of the vehicle. FERN’s consistent hard work and dedication continue to be a sense of pride for the nation.
