Bangalore’s ‘Solar Man’ on the Move

Syed Sajjad Ahmed, the man who has contrived a solar car, set out for Delhi from the city to join the Anti Corruption Movement agitation by Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev in Delhi on June 2. Sajjad’s solar car has been a head-turner on Bangalore roads
for quite some years. Carrying several solar panels on bonnet, hood and back, the solar car runs on combination of power generated by the solar panels and a host of batteries. Sajjad started from Bangalore on May 12 and had reached Belgaum on May 17 evening.
He told Islamic Voice from Belgaum that batteries have to be charged after every eight hours as they supply 60 per cent of the power to run the vehicle. The remaining 40% is generated by the solar panels that impart the car a novel look evoking wondrous gasp from the bystanders and  onlookers. The vehicle is totally environmentally friendly as it exhausts no fumes and consumes no fossil fuels.
His auto garage-turnedelectrical lab on Mysore Road has been attracting a steady stream of visitors during the last few years ever since he came up with his solar car which he devised himself on the pattern of an auto rickshaw. Though more comfortable to ride, it can seat two persons and runs at a speed of 30 to 40 kms an hour. Gradients re a bit difficult to climb. The  running cost is just about 70 paise a kilometer he told Islamic Voice. Sajjad expects to cover 100 kms each day in his journey to Jantar Mantar at New Delhi where he will join up with Anna Hazare. His car is now prominently displaying placards with slogans ‘Corruption destroys a Nation’. It is a solo journey with the seat next to himself being reserved for social activists joining him for short rides on the way. The vehicle devised and developed by him bears no registration plate as traffic cops just smile away at him looking at his mobile contraption. People
cheer him wherever he goes and kids poke their fingers into the solar panels around. Sajjad said social activists have been welcoming and feting him on the way to Delhi at all stations and have made enquiries about his ‘solar car’ and the environmental cause to
which he is wedded.