The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) has given the country its first shot at its very own indigenous electric car named Lion Ozumba 551.
Like every normal vehicle, Lion Ozumba 551 runs on four wheels when fully charged, and can be driven for up to 60 minutes at the top level campus speed of 30km per hour.
The idea was birthed when a proposal sent to the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) by one of the university lecturers seeking funding for a project on an electric multi-function tractor for smallholder farmers.
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As fortune would have it, the council was considering importation of electric vehicles for campus shuttle at the time, hence, UNN took up the challenge.
Chukwuma Ozumba, then UNN vice-chancellor, released N1.6 million to the mechatronics engineering laboratory team which comprised of 27 members and with that, Nigeria’s first electric car was born.
