Putting his EV plan in motion
● A young innovator from Soshanguve has developed a way for electric cars to self-charge while in motion to avoid the frustration of trying to find a charging station.
Matric pupil Amogelang Mampane, 18, left his home in Thembisa and moved to Soshanguve as he wanted to attend the Soshanguve Automotive School of Specialisation from grade 10 to pursue his passion in the electric vehicle (EV) industry.
Over six months, Mampane developed a system which enables EVs to charge while in motion through wireless energy transfer, facilitated by two coils which have mutual inductance.
Mampane explains his project by comparing it to a cellphone that uses a wireless charger, which he said made him wonder if the same could work for electric cars.
“It is two coils — one in the vehicle and the other in the road. These coils mounted in the road produce a magnetic field that creates electrical energy which travels back into the car and charges it. It eliminates the need to go to charging stations and insert cables. It saves time as well. The road should have transmitter coils as the vehicle needs to be on the road to charge,” he said. The drawback is that roads will have to be dug up for these coils to be inserted.
Mampane won the Best Development Project Award at the Eskom Expo International Science Fair last month, which he said he did not expect as the competition was tight.
“I was so nervous at the awards ceremony. I am the last-born and my family is proud of me. I am the first in the family to do this kind of thing.”
The matric pupil has dreams of building an electric hypercar and making it commercially available.