OTTAWA -- A team of students from Carleton University have won a competition to design a zero-emission vehicle.
Four students from Carleton’s School of Industrial Design beat out more than 20 other entries from across Canada, winning the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA) of Canada competition, named “Project Arrow.”
It’s a design for an all-Canadian electric car inspired by the Canadian Shield, and homage to another time in Canadian Transportation history.
“We named as a nod to the greatest technology project of the 20th century, the Avro Arrow,” says Flavio Volpe, President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association of Canada.
The team’s design will be used to create a full concept vehicle by 2022.
“Now, we’re starting to realize the scale and magnitude of this project,” says Matthew Schuetz, one of the four team members. “And that all came from our brains, essentially - it’s an incredible feeling.”
Mina Morcos is also a member of the winning team, “Getting that call, and realizing that we were part of something that would really be an example of what Canada is capable of is something that I would never want to take back; this a great opportunity.”
The hope is that the design will hit also hit a Canadian production line by 2025.
“We were challenging the industry across the country to prove to the world and prove to our local customers that every single component of the vehicle of tomorrow can be, and is sourced in Canada,” Volpe says.
In a press release, Colin Singh, CTO of the APMA wrote, “This is a proud and historic moment for Carleton and its students, Kaj Hallgrimsson, Jun-Won Kim, Mina Morcos and Matthew Schuetz, to have their design chosen as a lighthouse for Canada’s shift into zero-emission vehicle development… The level of learning and growth must have been tremendous for all the students.”
The students completed the design during the COVID-19 pandemic in just 12 weeks.
“This was an extracurricular project the students did on their own accord, which makes it so impressive,” said Bjarki Hallgrimsson, director of the Industrial Design program. “The students’ work shows the influence of the education and training they received in the program. The mindset of Carleton students is very ambitious and centered on holistic thinking. Rather than just working on styling or manufacturing, they considered many other aspects in their design, including accessibility, general usability and sustainability.”
The vehicle is based on a small SUV, and will be engineered and built through a joint effort that includes Canada’s automotive supply sector.
