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The Tale of a Formula Student Team from Pakistan

How did it start?

Team Formula Electric Racing - NUST is a student team from Pakistan that designs and fabricates formula-style electric vehicles to participate in Formula Student competitions. This endeavour began in 2014 when a group of students from the National University of Sciences and Technology – Pakistan Navy Engineering College designed a solar car to participate in the Solar Car Challenge in Cyprus and won the Electric Propulsion Award. This event inculcated the idea of introducing the electric vehicle culture in Pakistan by creating a pool of talented engineers who would promote electric automation and implement future trends within Pakistan's dynamic atmosphere. To this end, Team Formula Electric Racing-NUST was formed by these students as it provided them with the platform to test, implement and hone their skills in order to contribute greatly to Pakistan’s youth and future.

Given the challenges, limited budget and lack of resources this project seemed like an impossible feat to accomplish. However, with hard work and perseverance, the group of students managed to manufacture the first formula electric vehicle of Pakistan in 2016. The team took its first iteration to FSAE Electric held in Lincoln, Nebraska where it secured 4th place in the Cost and Manufacturing Event. Since then the team has manufactured two further iterations and has participated in Formula Student UK 18, 20 & 21 as well as Formula Student Russia.

The Competition

The task set for the students by the competition is to design and develop an open cockpit, single-seat, open-wheel, formula-style race car. The car, knowledge and experience produced in the project are then used in a competition against other students. The format of the event is such that it provides an ideal opportunity for the students to demonstrate and improve their capabilities to deliver a complex and integrated product in the demanding environment of a motorsport competition. The competition entails the following static and dynamic events:

  • Business presentation: The event is structured as a pitch meeting with potential investors, where you have 10 minutes to convince them to invest in your business idea built on the deep dive topic based on the needs of the industry is provided every year.
  • Cost event: Every part of the car needs to be documented in a cost document that specifies the method and cost of both manufacture and assembly. The event is a control of the correctness of this document with follow up questions with a focus on the knowledge on manufacturing and sustainability.
  • Design event: This event is a 40-minute presentation, explaining the theory and thought behind the design and development of the car to a panel of world-class engineering judges. Winning this event directly describes your team’s superior knowledge of engineering.
  • Acceleration: A 75-meter drag race event that is designed to show the car's acceleration performance.
  • Skidpad: In this event, the car is to drive a full right-hand circle and then a full left-hand circle. The average time between the two circles is then used to describe the vehicle's steady-state cornering performance.
  • Autocross: This one round time trial event is the most technically challenging of all the dynamic events. This is where the skill of the driver has a significant impact on the result. This is also the most prestigious of all the dynamic events as it best compares the maximum track pace of each vehicle.
  • Endurance: A 22 Km race over 20 laps with a pit stop and driver change at 11 km. This event is meant to test vehicle reliability, efficiency and race strategy. This is the event that most teams fear due to the fact that all competing vehicles are highly unreliable prototypes, and as a result, the number of teams able to finish the endurance race is low. It is also the event that awards the highest number of points, making it impossible to place high in the overall standings without a finish.

Team Structure, Aims & Goals

The team currently comprises of 47 members working in four major departments, namely Electrical, Mechanical, Driverless and Marketing & Communications. The technical department is led by the technical manager and the non-technical department is led by the general manager and they both are supervised by a team lead. Since the team comprises of undergraduate students only, the hierarchy of the team changes yearly. All members are students of NUST-PNEC.

The ultimate aim of the team is to test its Engineering knowledge and represent Pakistan on an international platform. Furthermore, the team also aims at raising awareness about the dangers of fuel-driven vehicles in contributing to the intense damage of the environment, in conjunction with this the team has carried out multiple outreach campaigns to promote sustainable development and STEM education in the youth.

The team participates in international competitions, mainly Formula Student competitions in which student teams from all around the world compete with their  Vehicles. Team Formula Electric Racing-NUST has a history of achieving milestones in these events.

In 2016, the team participated in the Formula SAE Electric US, becoming the first Pakistani Formula Student team to raise its flag on American soil. Despite countless odds, the team managed to be the 4th most cost-effective team at the competition out of many participating teams from around the globe.

Fast forward two years, in 2018 the team participated in IMechE Formula Student UK held at Silverstone, Northamptonshire as the only Electric vehicle from Pakistan and the team managed to achieve 18th and 9th position in the Business Plan Presentation and Electric Vehicle category respectively.

In 2020, the team was all set to participate in the IMechE Formula Student UK 2020 event with a running vehicle, however, the pandemic struck, and the event was shifted to a virtual one. The team, amid the difficulties, managed to do really well. It secured 4th position in the Business event, 10th position in the Cost and Manufacturing event and an overall 21st position out of 65+ teams.

In 2021 the team took part in FSUK 2021 which was a virtual event as well due to the pandemic and the travel restrictions that came along with it. Furthermore, the 2nd and 3rd waves of covid-19 which lead to the closure of the educational institutes hindered the team’s working pace and created a wide communication gap between the members of the team, however, despite these and several other setbacks the team’s morale did not falter.

Abiding by prevention measures the team still worked relentlessly day and night to produce the best possible iteration of their electric vehicle.

The team achieved a milestone by securing 18th position out of a total of 65 teams from all over the globe, many of whom are several decades old. The teams achieved 3rd position in the Engineering Design Event which consisted of multiple presentations based on vehicle dynamics, design decisions and team management. Furthermore, the Cost Event turned out to be fruitful for the team as well, with the team securing 20th position out of a total of 110 teams participating in it.

After the team’s recent successful run in Formula Student UK 2021, the team decided to extend its legacy and leave a mark at the Formula Student Russia 21’s Event. The team has overcome immense odds stacked against it and has managed to secure the first-ever Podium for Pakistan in any Formula Student Competition. The team also secured 2nd position in all individual events of the competition which include Engineering Design event, Business Plan Presentation and Cost & Manufacturing Event.

Future Plans

Formula Electric Racing-NUST has always been at the forefront of technological innovations in vehicle manufacturing since its inception. After making Pakistan’s first electric vehicle, the team has set its sights on manufacturing Pakistan’s first Driverless Vehicle. The team is set to participate in its first driverless competition in FSUK 2022 which will prove to be consequential in the development of the driverless prototype. Along with its aim of instilling the latest technological trends within the people of Pakistan, the team also focuses on self-manufacturing components to rid of its dependency on off-the-shelf components, for this reason, the team plans on implementing an inhouse Battery Management System in its next iteration which will be a major feat for the research and development wing of the team.

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