Students innovative idea turns scooter into 4-wheeler

NAGPUR: Most of us keep our old two-wheelers at home, not knowing what to do with them. Four students from a city engineering college utilized an old scooter by converting it into a four-wheeled vehicle with a trolley attached to it. This modified vehicle can be used for various purposes in factories, on farms and fields.

The vehicle made for a college project is the brain-child of Manoj Shinde, Nikhil Bhuyar, Tushar Perkunde and Nitish Dekate from Radhikatiai Pandav College of Engineering who worked under the guidance of their teacher NP Mungle. The prototype developed by them consists of the engine, lower body and the back tyres of a Kinetic scooterette, modified to be a four-wheeler with a steering wheel and a trolley attached. The final year students of mechanical engineering are now in the process of marketing this vehicle with the help of some corporates.

"It started as a project for the college and many people mocked at us saying it was a worthless idea. However, now, we have had many people who are interested in the vehicle and say it can be very useful," said Manoj. And when others were mocking them, the head of their department AH Ingle and head of the college Kiran Pande encouraged the students to go ahead and make the vehicle. The students say that their vehicle can being used by farmers as well as for material handling inside factories, on snow-clad roads and other places with space or terrain constraints as this would be leaner than the all-terrain vehicles used otherwise.

After discarding the handles and upper part of the vehicle, the group bought a few things from a scrap dealer to use them for the new vehicle. aœWe purchased six wheels, including two for the trolley and the steering,a informed Nikhil. Taking the total sum of Rs 18,000, the vehicle that can go upto a speed of 45 kmph can take a load upto 300 kms and gives a mileage of around 35. "The price and the capacity of the vehicle will change depending on the base vehicle used for the engine,a said Tushar. aœWe are in talks with some companies for helping us market the idea as a commercial one," said Nitish.