A vehicle powered by solar energy, made by vocational high school teachers and students in Gediz

In the district of Gediz in Kütahya, teachers and students of Yunus Emre Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School added new equipment to the vehicle they made from recyclable materials in 2022. The vehicle will be exhibited at Tekno Gediz in the coming days. Gediz Yunus Emre Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, Machinery and Design Technology Department teachers and students are preparing for the end-of-year exhibition by adding many new features to their solar-powered vehicle made from scrap parts as part of a recycling project in 2022.

‘We transformed materials destined for recycling into a vehicle’
Machinery Technology Department Teacher Osman Tanağrı, who stated that they started the project as a recycling project, said, ‘We made this vehicle in 2022 as a recycling project with the students studying at that time. Our goal was to transform materials destined for recycling into a vehicle. Gediz Chamber of Commerce and Industry supported this project. We created a vehicle with our students. We had the opportunity to exhibit this vehicle at the Gediz Festival later on. This year, we decided to add some technological equipment to our vehicle. We included these technological features in our vehicle. In this way, we made our vehicle more technological. In the coming years, we will ensure that it becomes even more technological by adding different equipment.’

‘Wipers work automatically in rainy weather’
Machinery Technology Department Teacher Şenol Aygün, who introduced the solar-powered vehicle, said, ‘We added new features to the vehicle we made in 2022. One of them is the rain sensor. The wipers work automatically in rainy weather. There is a motion sensor at the front of the vehicle which honks if it detects movement, serving as a parking sensor. Another equipment we have is the blind spot warning system. It provides a warning when there is a vehicle on the side when changing lanes, ensuring safe driving. We also have a humidity and temperature sensor. It controls the opening and closing of fans to provide the desired temperature settings and thermal control conditions. The parking sensor automatically controls the opening and closing of the headlights. The time sensor, known as the follow-me-home system, keeps the headlights on until we open the door of the house when we get out of the car.’

Şenol Aygün mentioned that they are considering adding many more features, saying, ‘These will be part of future work, hopefully. These include a sound sensor, pressure sensor, fingerprint sensor, a sensor that turns on the high and low beams if there is an approaching vehicle, a distance motion sensor, and a system that allows for sudden braking. We are considering adding these features.’

School Principal Gökhan Said Mamak said, ‘As in previous years, we thought about what we can present at the Tekno Gediz Festival of the District National Education Directorate, and we consulted with our teacher friends. We will present this vehicle made by our teacher friends in the field of Machinery Technologies again at Tekno Gediz, but we discussed presenting it in a broader way with our friends. First of all, I would like to thank Gediz Chamber of Commerce and Industry. With their contributions, our teacher friends contributed extra equipment to this vehicle. Thank you.’