There are tens of plants in Moldova specialising in manufacturing components for cars, but there is none which does the final assembly of vehicles. Moldova once had a large factory producing tractors, but that was the only example of a complete assembly line of vehicles.
A recent project, though, which united a small team of designers and engineers, supported by Technical University of Moldova (UTM) has proved that new means of mobility may also prove an opportunity for change.
Oleg Sargu is an engineer who graduated Georgia Institute of Technology in USA, having worked for 12 years in US before deciding to return in Moldova. Maxim Conoplin graduated as an automotive designer Coventry University in UK and then joined the team of Volvo’s ex-designer, Steve Harper, who now manages his own automotive design studio in UK. Maxim also decided to relocate in Moldova but still provides his work to his team in UK and works with a design company based in Singapore. These two talents, with a brilliant experience in their CVs, joined forces to create a vision of a future company that would manufacture commercial electric vehicles – small off-roaders for agricultural or city maintenance use, special purpose vehicles, and other variations, but all of them with a 100% electric drivetrain. And they wanted to start with a proof of concept – a prototype of an electric offroad that they would design and develop from the ground up and produce a full-scale vehicle for tests. Their idea was fully supported by UTM, which offered them the facilities to do the R&D and access to a university small-scale manufacturing facility with 3D printers and other crucial devices for prototype development. UTM was partially financing the project, and the team has also gained financial support from the overseas teams they partnered with earlier.
The off-road warrior
After more than a year of work, the team developed their prototype, Hi-Duk.
Its name is a pun which, on one side, suggests the higher ground clearance of an SUV, but on the other side, sounds similar to an old Romanian word of „haiduc”, which refers to a type of warrior fighting for the rights of weaker ones.
Hi-Duk is a compact utilitarian electric offroader, with only 3.32 m in length and a 2.42 wheelbase with short overhangs, which ensure good geometry in offroad.
It has a ground clearance of 230 mm and two electric motors, each providing traction to an axle. Each of them has a nominal power of 15 kW and a peak power of 30 kW, which means that the maximum power of the entire system is 60 kW, or 82 PS. Electric motors are supplied, by the way, by a British company that is ready to license their local assembly in Moldova. Hi-Duk concept can reshape the functional part of the rear and to adapt it to any purpose the vehicle may need to accomplish. So, when going to the final production, the same modular platform can be used as a basis for a large variety of electric compact off-roaders, some of them classified as ATVs, others as small maintenance trucks.
Since Hi-Duk is a utilitarian vehicle, its payload is a crucial parameter. It can carry up to 600 kg. Its maximum speed is limited to 40 km/h, and promised autonomy of the concept is 100 km. Still, the team already has identified batteries with a higher density, and an eventual large-scale production model would feature much significant autonomy.
Creating a learning culture
We have spoken to Dr. Viorel Bostan, Rector at UTM, to find out the feedback on this project from the university’s side. UTM was honored to support logistically and financially the project, providing all the support that a university can offer.
Dr. Bostan mentioned that he hopes this project will inspire many more students into automotive engineering, forming a future basis for more hi-tech automotive companies and providing more complex services to industry.
The university is open to partnering with such teams of engineers on one side and with companies that want to invest in dedicated advanced programs for students that will better connect the study process with the actual demands of the automotive industry.
Dr. Bostan has brought the example of Draxlmaier, which has launched an interior design studio inside a dedicated office floor on the university’s territory. That studio employs designers and engineers that design car interiors as a whole and their parts up to final technical documents ready to go in production. The newest model launched on the market, with a long list of interior components made in that studio, is the new generation of Mercedes-AMG SL. And the design studio is continuing to expand, working on more and more models that Draxlmaier is contracted for as a supplier. Students are inspired, they see the perspectives and real-life work being done, and they can visit and learn during their student years.
Returning to Hi-Duk, Dr. Bostan says the first built prototype will stay in UTM property, as a study asset for future engineers who will be able to see the actual vehicle developed in Moldova and suggest upgrades which will be relevant at the time of the study, year by year. The team has finished their initial mission of designing and engineering a functional vehicle, testing it in real-life offroad and making it production ready.
Production at scale, the next step
The next step the team dreams of would be having the much greater support needed to implement the concept into a much greater phase of series production. That means manufacturing facilities, upgrading the concept into first models that would go into production and forming up the team needed for that. They are convinced that manufacturing in Moldova would be feasible and price-competitive even for regional exports. You can look at this team as at a tech start-up, even though it is not one in an ordinary meaning. Still, the critical elements of a start-up you would want to invest in are in place: an insane level of enthusiasm, highly skilled technical thinking, a great understanding of the underlying technology, a great vision and an overwhelming courage they have already proved, for being the first ever team in Moldova that dared to produce a fullscale complete car, with large scale-production in mind.
