Novolo – NID thesis

Novolo - NID Masters Thesis Project

Novolo - NID Master's Thesis Project

Overview

As part of the academic curriculum at NID, all Post Graduate students undertake a Graduation/ Thesis project after completion of four semesters of course work at the Institute. This provides ample opportunity to showcase one’s design experience – of being able to work from scratch, initializing, rationalizing, validating and than realizing it into a final design product; with keen reflection of one’s strengths, design sensibilities, understanding design principles towards providing appropriate solutions with due consideration over – practical parameters of constraint, time, economic viability and innovation.

With road congestion becoming a major discussion point among all personal vehicle users, the future belongs to more customized and personalized transport systems or concepts which have very minimal imprints – both physical and emission perspective. Micro vehicles, would be one segment where we can efectively economize the space utilization and fuel consumption along with option of alternate fuel technology. Therefore I chose to design a Micro-electirc activity vehicle, with modular ability for my thesis project.

Design Brief –

To design a low foot-print electric micro-activity vehicle for smart cities in India, along with developing solutions for increase in sales of such vehicles in India.

Design Research

After the brief was finalized, extensive design research (close to three months) was conducted to gain quantifiable insights required for the design processes. They included –

1. Secondary Research –

> online, literature study

– to understand core crux of the requirement

– to understand the contextual complexities & relevance (Indian Scenario)

– Statistical validation of the same requirement

> Vehicle class segment – Micro

– Indepth study of History & timeline of Micro vehicles

– understand the vehicle characteristics, and their relevance

> Detailed case studies of (Smart Fortwo, Toyota IQ, Renault Twizy, Tata Nano, Mahindra-Reva E2O)

– to understand vehicle architecture and package

> Advancements in material & production technology

> Magazines, Online blogs, testimonials and reviews

– to gather user/market insights into the vehicle segment and its acceptance in India

2. Primary Research –

> couple of online surveys to understand user understanding & vehicle associations

> couple of group brainstorm sessions with peers and faculty at institute.

> showroom visits and personal informal interactions with sales reps and potential customers

> visit to service centre and gathering inputs from service professionals

> detailed interviews with ideal candidates from the target groups

The entire design project with critical and extensive documentation lasted for about an year.

All details of the thesis project can be viewed in the Project document.

Click on the link below –

Document Link

Target user - Visualization

Design Solutions

After having considerable understanding regarding the electric vehicle market, user requirements and other associated aspects; I came to an understanding that the solution should be at a Systems level, than just at the vehicle design level. It should address all the concerns regarding buying, owning and finally the life cycle end of the electric vehicle. Is should also address various technological needs of a modern city car.