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| Benjamin Mangubat with his bangkarwayan |
The
“bangkarwayan” has been a familiar sight
at the UP Manila campus recently. It is a solar-and-wind-powered” car with a
body made of bamboo and other recyclable materials. Its creator Benjamin
Mangubat, a 60-year-old history professor at UP Manila reports to work and
encourages his students to always think out of the box.
The term
“bangkarwayan” used to name the vehicle is a combination of two Filipino words which
are “bangka” (boat), car and “kawayan” (bamboo).
Mangubat explained
that his creation is designed for land and water, and runs on electricity
generated by solar panels and a windmill. Thinking that his students can
emulate his inventions, Mangubat said in an interview Friday that he wants to
inspire his student to think out of the box but, many of them are simply
book-learning.
The bangkarwayan, can
accommodate up to six people and has the
size of a subcompact car. It is coated
with brown color, giving it an old-fashioned
look. On its roof is a a “banig” (native
sleeping mat) and “bilao” (winnowing baskets) for hubcaps.
He said that the
vehicle can reach 40 kilometers per hour on land, drawing power from two sets
of five 12-volt batteries while there is a second set of batteries for reserve
power.
Mangubat has already
driven the vehicle around Manila and plans
to take it all the way to UP Diliman campus in Quezon City next week.
Meanwhile, the Land Tranporaion Office does not yet required it to be registered.
However Mangubat
admitted that he had yet to test bangkarwayan in the water. But to prove it’s
amphibious function, he hopes to test it in the next major flood that will hit
metropolis.
As mentioned, the
vehicle was made of recycled materials.
Its body was fitted with empty
plastic bottles for floaters, a rudder, a propeller, and a separate, smaller
engine to power it as a boat. It has enough supply of electricity to run three
electric fans, a fridge, several LED lights and a TV,”.
Mangubay said that it
took him 6 years to complete the vehicle’s creation. His efforts began in 2008.
He hired two technicians and a 77-year-old carpenter to put it all together but
non of them had any background in automotive engineering but relied on only on
the professor’s online research.
