Mosgiel students harness the power of potatoes to battle frosty cars

Scraping frost off car windscreens with frozen hands may be a thing of the past with a new potato-based spray.

Four Taieri College students in Mosgiel took it upon themselves to solve an age-old winter problem with a new invention as part of the Young Enterprise competition.

The competition required students to create and run a real business for a year and this group of students came up with what their calling the Winter Warrior.

Year 13 Taieri College student and inventor Ollie Mcfelin told Checkpoint the idea behind the product was born of personal experience in their chilly hometown.

"Just horrible," he said describing the cold and frost.

"You've got to scrape the ice... takes ages, ten minutes, you have to get up and you just want to be in your bed."

The formula for this windscreen concoction is going through some final tweaks but one of the main ingredients is potatoes.

While the potato may seem like an unlikely and random choice to fight the frost, it came recommended by the experts.

"We actually started emailing some professors from Otago Uni to see what their idea behind it would be, and they said that onion juices and potato juices would be our best bet."

He said it was something in the compounds of both potatoes and onions that helped repel water and frost.

The instructions were simple; the product was to be sprayed on any windscreen the night before and the user would wake up to a frost-free car.

"That sprays on clear and just completely wipes off in the morning, it's fighting off the frost and just doesn't let it sit."

As for product demand, the group had done their market research and the idea was met with unanimous support.

"One of our challenges for Young Enterprise, we had to go out and talk to the public... we went into shops and talked to local business owners, and they thought it was a great idea."

He said Mosgiel was a community led town with an ageing population, and de-icing cars was an issue many would want to be rid of.

Mcfelin said the group had started the process in March when it wasn't very cold and were now able to test their prototype.

He said it was working well so far, and the group was now applying the final touches.

"We're not ready to put it out until it's 100 percent perfect, we won't stop until it's done."

Mcfelin said there was no exact release date yet but he estimated it would be a few more weeks.

He said they were also trying to keep the product up to certain values and standards, including having eco-friendly bottles. This put the price point at about $20 per 300ml bottle.

"You probably have to spray about three or four sprays on each windscreen, so you probably get quite a few out of each bottle."

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