A group of Carleton University students won the national Project Arrow contest for designing a zero-emission vehicle, the first phase in a four-part project that will release a concept car in 2022.
Kaj Hallgrimsson, Jun-Won Kim, Mina Morcos, and Matthew Schuetz are students in Carleton’s School of Industrial Design. They designed the winning car with the values of simplicity, freedom and stability in mind, along with a goal of keeping the car accessible.
Out of nine complete entries, the four Carleton students won the competition after 12 weeks of work.
“We identified the needs of Canadians and how we could help make the car more accessible for people who may need assistance getting into typical cars,” Hallgrimsson said in an email.
Project Arrow, run by the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association (APMA), is an all-Canadian project to build a zero-emission vehicle through “the country’s world-class automotive supply sector and post-secondary institutions,” according to a press release.
Hallgrimsson said the group was excited to combine different aspects of their program—creating user interfaces and developing user experiences—in a project that could go into production.
“Pretty much no one our age can say that they have designed a production-ready vehicle concept,” Hallgrimsson said. “It typically takes a master’s degree just to get into automotive design.”
Working through the COVID-19 pandemic, the group met virtually and shared ideas through online meeting tools.
The team used virtual reality tools to build the frame of the vehicle, then built the surfaces of the car using a separate program.
Hallgrimsson sent screenshots to the group to get input on the design, and then updated the model given the feedback the other students gave.
The interior of the car was also modelled with virtual reality, as it allowed the group to sit in the car and interact with different features, according to Hallgrimsson.
In total, Hallgrimsson said they had about 60 different iterations of the car.
Bjarki Hallgrimsson, Industrial Design program director and Kaj Hallgrimsson’s father, said the win is a big success for the university.
“Having our four students win the Project Arrow national design competition is a big and well-deserved honour for them, the School of Industrial Design, and Carleton University,” he said.
Congratulations to the @APMACanada and the winning team from Carleton University on this all-Canadian zero-emission vehicle design! https://t.co/d5VpAIwVhH
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 13, 2020
The design by the Carleton group was selected because it met the specifications of the contest and was deemed “eminently buildable,” according to APMA president Flavio Volpe.
“We hope that our concept SUV sparks more innovation in the Canadian automotive industry,” Kaj Halligrimson said. “EVs are a pathway to reducing emissions and hopefully we will see a greater push towards a zero-emissions future because of this.”
