I have always had a natural urge to find and attempt to solve problems. I have this desire to just try and make things a wee bit better, which can be frustrating, but I believe it’s healthy.
I completed my undergraduate course in Production Engineering and Management at Strathclyde University. After giving a strong foundation in engineering and design, this course then focused on optimising manufacturing systems, and process improvement. I have worked with various manufacturing companies, from the automotive industry to the drink industry.
However, I was always an extremely creative child – constantly drawing and painting. I started to realise that I was missing something, as I wasn’t able to find many ways to be creative in manufacturing. I began to recognise there may be a way to remedy this, as well as advancing my prior education. This Product Design Engineering course has, I believe, come at just the right time. It has allowed me to further develop skills I already possessed, as well as open my eyes to aspects of design I could never have imagined.
This course has given me the confidence to say that, if you put any situation at all in front of me, I can come up with some kind of improvement. From using empathy, being able to make connections, find a root cause, problem solve, co-create with users, ideate and rapidly create concepts, and build, test and iterate, I now have this box of tools that I will carry with me.
All I hope is that I keep moving forward. As it is the process of identifying problems and finding creative solutions that I enjoy, I am not fussy about a particular company, industry, or direction – so long as the ethos of the space I end up working in aligns roughly with my own.
The product in the spotlight is 4SB - a Small, Swappable, Solid State Battery.
The need for flexible electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure solutions in the UK, along with 41% of surveyed UK residents concerned about the practicalities of charging at home, initially drove this project. As swap-out batteries were investigated, it became apparent that in allowing them to catch on in the West, a model that provided minimal constraints to vehicle and battery designers would need to be implemented. Trying to introduce standard sized EV batteries, would not sit well at all with automakers.
Welcome 4SB. A complementary solid state battery, that connects directly to the main EV battery. 4SB has been designed to be swapped-out at automated swap-out stations, hoping to provide 115 miles of range in under 2 minutes. Offering flexible solutions is still at the heart of the UK's automotive industry - so let's begin to see this in EV charging infrastructure world.