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S4 drop outs make electric car
One of the innovators, Julius Ssemambye, 43, driving the electric car. PHOTOS/ AMBROSE MUSASIZIx
What you need to know:
- Now living in Kasambya Cell in Kyotera Town Council, the duo began making 700w to 3000w domestic inverters, and selling them at Shs350,000 to Shs2 million.
Two Senior Four drop-outs who have been eking out a living by making and selling domestic inverters in the south-western Kyotera District have surprised themselves and residents by making what they call an “electric car”.
When 39-year-old Rogers Gambogo and Julius Ssemambye, 43, left St Edward Kasozi Secondary School and Kajoki Secondary School, respectively, a bleak future greeted them.
Then they found they both lived in the same district and had passion for electrical work.
Now living in Kasambya Cell in Kyotera Town Council, the duo began making 700w to 3000w domestic inverters, and selling them at Shs350,000-Shs2m.
They also put on sale 5kw to 100kw voltage inverters, charging buyers between Shs4.3m and Shs43m.
Their locally-improvised amplifier costs Shs80,000.
However, after a year-long attempt --- most of it by accounts of witnesses a trial-and-error method --- the technicians managed to knock random materials, some retrieved from disused vehicles, to build a car shell they said has no engine but is powered by locally-fabricated controller.
The technical processes of the project are unclear, there is no documentation even when Mr Gambogo said Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) endorsed their innovation, but the improvised machine can carry up to 10 passengers and reportedly drive at 100-kilometre per hour.
We could not independently verify URSB’s involvement in the project or the performance of the machine.
Eighty percent of the spare parts on the car are locally fabricated from iron sheets and other metal pieces, while the 20 percent including the steering wheel and tyres were plucked from disused vehicles.
“We have been doing such electrical work for some good years, but it has taken us a year to come up with a moving car. We had it in mind, but we didn’t think we could at one time have a moving vehicle which doesn’t use fuel,” Mr Gambogo said.
He claimed that they could, with better funding, in the initial stages employ up to 50 people
The project has so far cost Shs28m, he said.
His colleague, Mr Ssemambye, said their dream is to attain better training from experts so that they can be more useful to themselves and Uganda.
The innovation, which pends independent confirmation, comes at a time when the state-owned Kiira Motors, in a partnership with the army’s National Enterprise Corporation (NEC), has started produced electrical and diesel-powered buses.
And in most developed countries, there is growing demand for electrical cars as the world races to reduce carbon emissions.
Mr John Paul Mpalanyi, the Kyotera MP, applauded the two electricians and asked the government to support the young innovators.
“We are lucky that we have such talented and intelligent youth in our area. I have on several occasions inspected their work and I can bear witness that their works are really genuine. We should all come up and help support them,” he said.
Mr Patrick Kintu Kisekuulo, the Kyotera District chairperson, pledged to support the duo. “These are Senior Four dropouts, but doing the work of experts. As a district, we pledge our support to them by even buying their products,” he added.
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