Together with Senegal for more sustainability: Christian Hild supports the development of an e-vehicle for Africa

TU Dresden is further expanding its international cooperation with a promising collaboration between the Institute of Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology (ILK) and the École Polytechnique de Thiès (EPT) in Senegal. Dipl.-Ing. Christian Hild, a graduate of the Lightweight Engineering program at the TU Dresden and currently a research assistant at the ILK in the Expert Group Lightweight Structures, has been working at the EPT for three months since the beginning of March as part of our Senegal Erasmus+ Worldwide (KA-171) project.

In cooperation with the association MID-Afrika e.V. and under the supervision of Prof. Mamadou Wade, Christian is involved in the development of the Robour-E at EPT - a modular, simple and robust electric vehicle designed specifically for the needs and requirements of the African market. The aim is to build now a prototype of this vehicle that is both easy to produce and maintain, and has a wide range of potential uses. The prototype is to be manufactured at the EPT and Christian is supporting the establishment of a specialized working group on site.

Christian's stay in Thiès is the first project mobility from Dresden. In addition to the technical research tasks, Christian will also pursue project-related organizational goals. One of these is to personally experience and better understand the EPT's working methods during his stay in order to systematically facilitate the future cooperation with the TU Dresden. But the central aim is to promote and initiate student exchanges together with Prof. Mamadou, who is responsible for teaching at the EPT. The focus is on the selection of students who will complete three-month internships at the ILK until the end of 2024. The application process has already been opened and eight succesful candidates out of the total of 30 applications received have been invited for an interview.

Despite the exciting developments, Christian also reports challenges in implementation: "Sometimes plans fail because of a lack of priorities in planning and logistics on site. It's difficult to rely on commitments in Africa." Nevertheless, he remains optimistic and committed to achieving the goals set for his stay in the best possible way: "Despite the organizational hurdles, we now have a small working group that has started production of the Robour-E prototype."

In his free time, Christian is using the opportunity to improve his French, travel around Senegal and get to know the country's culture and mentality. "My stay here has definitely broadened my intercultural horizons and changed my perspective on many things."

Impressions from Senegal. A look at Christian's travel diary

The cooperation with the EPT and the development of Robour-E are promising steps that will further strengthen the international positioning of our institute and TU Dresden. We wish Christian and all involved good luck with this exciting project!

Contact

Radka Roßner, ILK International Office Advisor

Senegal partnership. Scientific coordination

Dipl.-Ing. Daniel Wohlfahrt, ILK Research Associate, Expert Group Lightweight Structures
Phone +49 (0)351 463-38078,