An enterprising engineer in Afghanistan has designed and created the country's first solar powered car, funding the project partly online and building the eco-friendly vehicle with parts from a Kabul market.

Wahidullah Sabawon, the mastermind behind the little blue car, told Al-Jazeera English that he believes the car can be mass produced to make it affordable to all Afghanis.

If life had given Sabawon lemons he would have made lemonade, but it gave him sun so he made a solar powered car.

It is his hope that he could save his fellow countrymen some cash as Afghanistan has sun in abundance but has to import billions of dollars worth of refined petroleum each year.

The car, which cost him $5,000 (£3,202) to build, is certainly a feet of ingenuity - but the solar powered prototype does have a few teething problems.

The vehicle does not have any storage space and is at the very least a tight fit. Perhaps most worryingly, when Sabawon's brake fluid overheats in summer temperatures, the car doesn't stop. This slight wrinkle has already caused the vehicle's first accident.

Also, the ferocity of Kabul traffic means Sabawon only takes the car out at the weekend. He keeps the number of the chief of the city's traffic police to hand just in case he runs into any difficulty.

A trained engineer, Sabawon funded the creation of the vehicle through the sale of his own petrol-power car and then with the help of an online donor who contributed $1000 (£640).

It is his hope that the new car will contribute to a new and brighter future for his war-ravaged homeland.

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