Abacus | Hong Kong EV automotive design may be just the ticket for a new urban runabout
- A smart design team at PolyU, led by international car designer Urs Stemmler, is building the prototype of an original electric vehicle conceived in Hong Kong
- The project was timely even before Russia invaded Ukraine, but has become especially relevant in our new era of global energy insecurity
Occasionally, I come across a design story which gets my attention and captures my imagination – typically something that either flies, floats, or has four on the floor.
This may be because I come from a family of engineers. On my mother’s side of the family, my grandfather and great-aunt built HRG sports cars in Tolworth, England. My father’s side was full of electrical engineers, with dad being instrumental in the development of text and data over telephone lines. I was the black sheep who went into finance.
With HRG long since gone to the great Grand Prix in the sky, and dad having hung up his soldering iron, I still think about what I may have done if I had stayed in the family tradition – designed cars, perhaps?
Urs’ team is made up of PolyU undergraduates studying automotive design and engineering, in a new unit called “SD+” of the School of Design, led by Professor Tak C. Lee. They are among the best and brightest in the field, taking on a challenge that has never been attempted before in Hong Kong.
