Cikal Nusantara: Seed of Optimism for National Automobile's Industry
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id -- The success of ITB's Cikal Nusantara team in Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2012 which was held on Wednesday to Saturday (04-07/07/12) in Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, brought a fresh air to the national automotive industry: that college students were able to build cars from scratch. ITB team triumphed in the Urban Concept category, the category of cars designed for city streets. In general, the cars in this category are cars that we might encounter on the street passing by the city in the future. This proved that Indonesian young engineers were ready to compete and participate in the automotive industry. The award achieved by Cikal Nusantara team was a prestigious award, since this category was the category with a high level of competition. There was a fierce competition among teams, especially the teams from Singapore in the category of Battery Electric and China in the category of gasoline and diesel. Interestingly, other rivals in the category of gasoline actually comes from Indonesia. This is indicated by the first and second positions for the Urban Concept category of gasoline and FAME (Fatty Acid Methyl Esther) was achieved by a team from Indonesia.
ITB team itself is represented by three teams of students in various departments of Cikal Cakrawala in Urban Concept Battery Electric category, Cikal Cakrasvarna in Urban Concept Gasoline category, and Cikal Diesel in Urban FAME (Fatty Acid Methyl Esther) category. Especially for the Cikal Cakrawala, this year was the first year of their participation in the category of electric cars, and surprisingly won the second prize right after Singapore which is the defending champion. Categories other than the electric car is cars with internal combustion engine that uses fuel.
Car Design
Cikal team cars had two different colors, red for Cikal Cakrasvarna team and white for Cikal Cakrawala team. Both cars had the same body mold, there was little difference in the headlights, front grill, and other small details. For the design itself, the team was more focused on Cikal Cakrawala car. Futuristic design concept was made to resemble an overview of future electric cars. In addition, the car was also fitted with transparent acrylic given batik patterns. "We want this car has a modern and futuristic spirit, without losing sight of the components we showed in Indonesian batik patterns," said Peter Lukito Ferdian (Mechanical Engineering 2008) of the managerial team of Cikal. As for the Cikal Cakrasvarna car, retrieved a sporty design theme. This car is made up of a combination of red and black.
The car's interior is also made using the dashboard of a car with a lightweight material. Overall car weight is an important component in the design because the weight of the car affect fuel efficiency. Car security system itself is based on the standard of competition from Shell Eco-Marathon Asia which this year carries the slogan "Goal Zero" or zero accidents. These safety systems including seat belts and roll bars.
Each car also has different specifications. For Cikal Cakrasvarna, using 110 cc engine with a chassis made of aluminum and carbon fiber body. Cikal Cakrawala, using brushless DC motors 1100 rpm and 800 Watt lithium ferrite phosphate 10 Ah 48 V. Both cars are capable of attaining a maximum speed between 50-60 km/hour. The production process of the two cars reached within 6 months starting from the design stage, with the majority of work on campus Ganesha.
Cikal Nusantara and National Automobile's Industry
For the future, the two cars immediately prepared for the competition next year. "We must begin to prepare, especially for the regeneration of the team. regeneration The most important is the regeneration of knowledge of the automobile itself, because our goal is how Indonesia can extend to the automotive industry and not just assemble," said Peter. "Our car is not used as a prototype of a national car, because only for the specification of the race. We just make it as an encouragement to the people to realize that Indonesia could compete in the automotive industry," he added.
Cikal team, especially Cikal Cakrawala team, want to help the government in Indonesia's readiness campaign for the a national electric car. The government itself is ready to support the university by providing funds of 100 billion through 2014 to the five colleges for the development of electric cars. This is consistent with the origin of the name of the Cikal's name meaning: seed. Initial seed to prove that Indonesia is able to make its own car.
Dream that the domestic production of electric cars could be passing by on the streets of Indonesia is now not seen so far.
(Photo by Cikal Nusantara team)
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