Pravega: Engineering Cars to Connect Communities
4 min read
Meet Joshwin and his team, who work with different communities in their journey to Shell Eco-marathon.
Shell Eco-marathon on-track 2023 – Pravega
Read the transcript
Read the transcript
Title: Shell Eco-marathon on-track 2023 – Pravega
Duration: 02:50
Description: Pravega team manager Joshwin Rajan discusses vehicle made from bamboo and communication app.
Pravega Accessibility Transcript
[Background music]
Upbeat steel drums.
[Visuals]
Opens with Joshwin, full frame.
Joshwin:
See how we are connecting communities from bamboo to our very own app.
Visuals.
[Text displays]
We are connection communities from bamboo to our very own app
[Visuals]
Cuts to shot of vehicle rolling on track, before cutting to team members posing behind it.
[Text displays]
Team Pravega
Government Engineering College Barton Hill
India
Joshwin voice-over:
We are Team Pravega from Government Engineering College Barton Hill in India.
[Visuals]
Cuts back to Joshwin before cutting to montage of team members working on vehicle.
[Text displays]
Biodegradable materials
Joshwin voice-over:
What makes Team Pravega different is the use of innovative and biodegradable materials that we make and that we use to make our car body.
[Visuals]
Cuts back o Joshwin.
[Text displays – name strap]
Joshwin Rajan
Team Manager
Joshwin:
As one of the goals of the competition is to build more sustainable cars.
[Visuals]
Zoom transitions to vehicle being rolled outside garage.
[Text displays]
Natural materials can do as good a job as their less sustainable counterparts.
Joshwin:
We wanted to prove that the natural materials can do as good as a job as their less sustainable counterparts.
[Visuals]
Cuts to three-way split-screen of vehicle being rolled outside garage.
Joshwin voice-over:
OUR car’s body is made of woven bamboo mats and bio-epoxy…
[Text displays]
Woven bamboo mats
Bio epoxy
[Visuals]
Cuts back to Joshwin.
[Text displays]
Bamboo
Composite
Joshwin:
… which forms the bamboo composite, which is ultimately biodegradable and highly sustainable.
[Visuals]
Cuts to close-up of bamboo vehicle exterior.
[Text displays]
Biodegradable
Sustainable
[Visuals]
Cuts to vehicle being rolled off track before cutting back to Joshwin.
Joshwin:
Team Pravega comes from a state called Kerala in India…
[Visuals]
Cuts to stewards waving flags in front of vehicle, followed by three-way split of vehicle running on track and team members talking.
Joshwin voice-over:
… where bamboo is available in abundance, and certain species of bamboo is proven to have three times the tensile strength of steel.
[Text displays]
Bamboo is proven to have
[Visuals]
Cuts back to Joshwin.
[Text displays]
Three times the tensile strength of steel
[Visuals]
Cuts to images of bamboo being woven together.
Joshwin voice-over:
So we went to a tribal community where the bamboo artisans would cut off bamboo shoots, then slice it into thin strands, weave into bamboo mats…
[Text displays]
Weave into bamboo mats
[Visuals]
Cuts to three-way split of bamboo close-ups.
Joshwin voice-over:
… which we used to make the composite, which formed the body of our vehicle.
[Text displays]
Formed the body of our vehicle
[Visuals]
Cuts back to Joshwin.
Joshwin:
With the bamboo being sourced locally, the carbon footprint of the car as well as the manufacturing process is reduced.
[Visuals]
Cuts to scrapbook transition with map of India.
[Visuals]
Cuts to montage of team members working on vehicle.
Joshwin voice-over:
For us Indian students, it's a huge financial expense to ship our vehicle from India to Indonesia….
[Visuals]
Cuts to three-way split of team members working on vehicle.
Joshwin voice-over:
… So last year what we had to do was to personally contact each individual team that qualified from India…
[Visuals]
Cuts back to Joshwin.
Joshwin:
… and we had to pool all our shipments into a single shipment to reduce the cost of shipping.
[Visuals]
Cuts to close-up of team members using the app on their phones.
Joshwin voice-over:
So this time, this time around we thought, why not make a platform for that for all of us to interact among ourselves and to talk and make the whole shipment process easier.
[Text displays]
Why not make a platform all of us to interact among ourselves?
[Visuals]
Cuts back to Joshwin.
Joshwin:
Even though the initial thought behind the app was to collaborate among the Indian students…
[Visuals]
Cuts to close-up of phone.
Joshwin voice-over:
… we later made the app global.
[Visuals]
Cuts to scrapbook transition with map of India, before cutting to shot of phone.
[Text displays]
Rule books
Joshwin voice-over:
As the previous year’s, rule books that are available on the app all in one place…
[Visuals]
Cuts back to Joshwin.
Joshwin:
… It’s easier for the teams to keep track of the changes and make their car accordingly.
There are two kinds of chats that are available inside the app…
[Text displays]
Two kinds of chats that are available inside the app
[Visuals]
Cuts to team members using their phones.
[Text displays]
Community chat
Joshwin voice-over:
The community chat is similar to a group chat that the team managers of the teams can talk about the common topics…
[Text displays]
Direct messaging
Joshwin voice-over:
And there’s also a direct messaging function that the managers of two teams can directly talk to each other.
[Visuals]
Cuts back to Joshwin.
Joshwin:
The app also contains a resources page which contains important information that's difficult for the other teams to find online…
[Text displays]
Resources page
[Visuals]
Cuts to close-up of phone.
[Text displays]
Updates page
Joshwin Voice-over:
… and an updates page which provides updates regarding the changes in the schedule…
[Visuals]
Cuts back to Joshwin.
Joshwin:
… the deadlines and important meeting links.
[Visuals]
Cuts to team members shaking hands on track.
Joshwin voice-over:
Using the app, we were able to collaborate with students from universities all over the world.
[Text displays]
Using the app, we were able to collaborate with students from universities all over the world
[Visuals]
Cuts to team members celebrating with trophy before cutting back to Joshwin.
Joshwin:
Visit our playlist for more stories from Shell Eco-marathon.
[Text displays]
#ShellEcoMarathon
[Shell endboard with logo]
Subscribe for more
#ShellEcoMarathon
©SHELL INTERNATIONAL LIMITED 2023
Joshwin Rajan, team manager from Pravega from Government Engineering College Barton Hill, India, talks about how they collaborate with different groups in building their vehicle and getting it to the competition. They work with local artisans that harvest and process the bamboo they use for their car’s body. Bamboo is a sustainable option for their team, as it is abundant in their region and lightweight to add to energy-efficiency.
They also took collaboration to the next level to solve another challenge they were facing – logistic costs to the competition. Pravega created an app for different teams to coordinate, work together and share resources relating to the competition. Initially, the platform was designed for teams in India, but they eventually decided to open it to global teams as well.
- Joshwin RajanWith the bamboo being sourced locally, the carbon footprint of the car… is reduced.
