Meet the professor who created a 100% electric car in his garage
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2025 3:38 am
Carlos Rodríguez is a Physical Education teacher from Cartagena who has built his own 100% electric sports car , Pure Car. An illness was the trigger for this project, in which he has invested around 35,000 euros and a lot of time. We review with him the process of creating this vehicle in the garage of his home.
How did the idea of building your own car come about?
CARLOS RODRÍGUEZ: I had been mulling over the idea of building a car, restoring an old one or buying a Cobra MK4 kit car in the United States and assembling it in my garage for some time.
In August 2011 I finished a bunch of sculptures that I was going to exhibit in September and on the 15th I started to feel really ill. At the hospital they told me that I had meningitis. The illness didn't leave me with any after-effects, but it did leave me with the time I needed during my long convalescence to study more thoroughly how a car is built.
You are a Physical Education teacher and when you started student data this project you had no knowledge of engineering, mechanics or physics. How is it possible to design and manufacture a car without this prior training?
CR: Since I was little, my favorite gift has always been a toolbox. I have always been dedicated to creating inventions. Most of the things (furniture, windows, sculptures, floors, structures) in my house and many of those in my friends' houses have been made by me. The challenge of thinking of something that I need, thinking about it to understand how to build it, designing that something from my point of view and then building it is what makes me happy - apart from enjoying time with my family, my friends and at work, and living in peace with the universe, of course.
When I decided to make the car, I first drew some lines on a piece of paper that I more or less liked. That was enough. The first time I do something I always don't know how to do it, but I'm also sure that I'll get it right. And so it was with the car. I started with what I liked most, which was making the bodywork, and I would sort out the rest when I got there. I put 10 m3 of polystyrene on the garage floor and started to sculpt the preliminary design. On top of that I put fibreglass and polyester resin and after three weeks it started to look like a car.
What role have the Internet and social networks played in your project?
CR: Once the body was finished, I needed to find out on the Internet what types of chassis, suspension and steering there were. I then compared this information with the opinions of some well-known engineers or people from the university. From all this I drew my own conclusions and started with the chassis, then the interior… And finally the time came to face something I didn’t want to come up with: the battery. If the Internet didn’t exist, I don’t think I would have managed to do it because I didn’t have anyone close who knew how to build one from scratch. In the end I built one based on the one used in Tesla cars… and it worked.
Once the car was finished, it was very exciting to be able to take it to an airfield and drive it around there. We filmed it with a drone and my brother posted it on his Facebook wall. Within 5 minutes he received a call from Murcia television to ask about the car. Since then, thanks to social media, the press, radio and television, the story has reached many people.
How did the idea of building your own car come about?
CARLOS RODRÍGUEZ: I had been mulling over the idea of building a car, restoring an old one or buying a Cobra MK4 kit car in the United States and assembling it in my garage for some time.
In August 2011 I finished a bunch of sculptures that I was going to exhibit in September and on the 15th I started to feel really ill. At the hospital they told me that I had meningitis. The illness didn't leave me with any after-effects, but it did leave me with the time I needed during my long convalescence to study more thoroughly how a car is built.
You are a Physical Education teacher and when you started student data this project you had no knowledge of engineering, mechanics or physics. How is it possible to design and manufacture a car without this prior training?
CR: Since I was little, my favorite gift has always been a toolbox. I have always been dedicated to creating inventions. Most of the things (furniture, windows, sculptures, floors, structures) in my house and many of those in my friends' houses have been made by me. The challenge of thinking of something that I need, thinking about it to understand how to build it, designing that something from my point of view and then building it is what makes me happy - apart from enjoying time with my family, my friends and at work, and living in peace with the universe, of course.
When I decided to make the car, I first drew some lines on a piece of paper that I more or less liked. That was enough. The first time I do something I always don't know how to do it, but I'm also sure that I'll get it right. And so it was with the car. I started with what I liked most, which was making the bodywork, and I would sort out the rest when I got there. I put 10 m3 of polystyrene on the garage floor and started to sculpt the preliminary design. On top of that I put fibreglass and polyester resin and after three weeks it started to look like a car.
What role have the Internet and social networks played in your project?
CR: Once the body was finished, I needed to find out on the Internet what types of chassis, suspension and steering there were. I then compared this information with the opinions of some well-known engineers or people from the university. From all this I drew my own conclusions and started with the chassis, then the interior… And finally the time came to face something I didn’t want to come up with: the battery. If the Internet didn’t exist, I don’t think I would have managed to do it because I didn’t have anyone close who knew how to build one from scratch. In the end I built one based on the one used in Tesla cars… and it worked.
Once the car was finished, it was very exciting to be able to take it to an airfield and drive it around there. We filmed it with a drone and my brother posted it on his Facebook wall. Within 5 minutes he received a call from Murcia television to ask about the car. Since then, thanks to social media, the press, radio and television, the story has reached many people.