Durban - South Africa’s first student-designed electric car was unveiled by InvoTech at a breakfast on Tuesday.
The event was presided over by ANC treasurer-general, Dr Zweli Mkhize and eThekwini deputy mayor, Cllr Fawzia Peer.
The car is believed to be South Africa's first locally built, battery operated electrical vehicle.
Dubbed the Mamba, its prototype was designed and developed by mechanical engineering students, Matthew Wood, Nicholas Witteveen, Sean Mons and Simone Chetty of the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN), using electric vehicle (EV) technology that relies on chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs.
"With its production costs rate lower than that of similar sized two-door sedans, both electric and internal combustion-powered engine has huge market appeal, especially among urban users," said. William Goldstone, InvoTech CEO
Powered by 20kWh lithium-ion batteries, over a charge time of 10 hours, the Mamba has a range of about 200km, making it ideal for urban users.
Seed funding to the value of R600k was secured for this ground-breaking project through the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), which falls under the Department of Science and Technology.
For the past year, InvoTech has been looking to find additional investors to assist in further developing the car so that it can be taken to market.
"South African youth have demonstrated time and again their phenomenal talent—at Invotech we’re trying to connect these students with investors who can see these projects through to commercialisation. Our appeal goes out to corporates and successful business people to fund these projects for continued development,” added Goldstone.