Скачать или смотреть Taxi driver engineers first electric vehicle in Gaza to combat fuel shortage

(25 Jul 2012) STORYLINE
A taxi driver has engineered the first electric car in the Gaza Strip, a move driven by chronic ongoing fuel shortages.
Monzer El-Qasas took to the streets of Gaza City on Wednesday in his white open-side vehicle, provoking curiosity from onlookers.
El-Qasas calls his invention the "Monzer".
The white vehicle, which looks a little like a golf buggy, has panels of decorative blue and white mosaic on the floor and lower bodywork, while on the side a sign reads: "Electric car made in Palestine."
After driving around his neighbourhood, El-Qasas drives back to the charging station in his garage, topping it up with electricity when the battery runs out.
The vehicle is fully recharged in five hours and ready for another spin.
With a top speed of 20 kilometres per hour (12.4 miles an hour), it is not speedy, but at least it goes, when many other cars are stuck off road for lack of petrol.
"What prompted me to make the car was the fuel shortage problem in Gaza," said El-Qasas.
"I used to not work for ten hours every day, sometimes even for a few days, because of the fuel shortage."
El-Qasas, a political science graduate, designed the vehicle to give himself cheap transport. With no engineering background, he built the electric vehicle in his spare time and completed the project in 70 hours.
He said that the next stage was to design a vehicle that worked on solar power.
El-Qasas took the "Monzer" for its first test drive ten days ago.
He probably won't be able to wean Gaza off its dependency on fuel, but he hopes the "Monzer" will be a household name in the future.
"This is amazing, especially as it was made in Gaza," one Gaza resident said.
"Hopefully it will improve and we will be able to reach a point when we don't need to use cars that work on fuel."
Electric power normally comes on for five hours twice a day in Gaza - a tiny sliver of land between Israel and Egypt.
During Ramadan, Gaza's rulers Hamas have promised eight-hour rotations between power and blackouts.


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