A DUMFRIES woman is set to work with a ‘Bond car’ designer on a project to develop next generation of electric, wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
Zoe Graham, a fourth-year BEng student of product design engineering at The Glasgow School of Art (GSA), is one of two students selected for a placement at CALLUM Designs under the guidance of its design director and fellow Doonhamer Ian Callum – who designed the Aston Martin car driven by James Bond in Die Another Day.
She will get the chance to explore design and engineering solutions that could help thousands of disabled motorists.
The 22-year-old was one of 150 students at the GSA and the University of Coventry to take part in ‘design hacks’, at which they proposed solutions to the complex issue of providing accessibility and utilising internal space to make electric vehicles adapted for wheelchair users.
Along with fellow placement student Yikuan Zhang, from Coventry University, Zoe is now looking forward to the important work ahead of her and hopes her input can help improve the lives of people with disabilities. She said: “When I read the eWAV brief I felt inspired, it’s such an important and interesting design and engineering problem that could really benefit people.
“Even as a school child, I wanted to make robotic limbs for people with disabilities: I would like to use my skills to design products that continue to improve the quality of people’s lives. With my initial eWAV design, I wanted the user to have the best experience possible while also offering something ‘cool’ that has the new-age, exciting feel that most electric cars have today.”
Ian Callum, was impressed by the ingenuity of the solutions suggested by the students and said: “This is an incredibly complex problem that needs to be addressed today to ensure that no one is left behind as the automotive industry moves towards its next electric evolution.
“It’s wonderful to get a glimpse at the next generation of talent and ideas that will soon enter the sector.”
Zoe will begin work with the CALLUM design and engineering teams in March to develop an eWAV prototype that will be revealed in late autumn 2023.
