Nipate
Forum => Kenya Discussion => Topic started by: RVtitem on November 11, 2014, 10:57:47 PM
-
http://www.nation.co.ke/business/Kiira-Hybrid-Launch-KICC/-/996/2519208/-/w54402z/-/index.html
(http://www.nation.co.ke/image/view/-/2519210/highRes/873440/-/maxw/600/-/wcyn3pz/-/dn+hybrid+1111.JPG.jpg)
Uganda has beaten Kenya by producing the first hybrid vehicle in East Africa.
The vehicle, Kiira EV SMART, which the manufacturers say will be the region’s first sedan hybrid electronic vehicle, has been developed at Kiira Motors Corporation.
Ironically, Uganda will be launching the car at Kenyatta International Convention Centre on Thursday, confirming that Nairobi is the regional financial hub.
“The reason why we are having a high profile launch is to attract investors from East African region.
“We are looking for collaboration because it’s an expensive venture. We are looking at $300 million assembly line in Jinja.
“This vehicle is a prototype and we expect to go to mass production by 2018,” managing director, Africa Talentbank.com Ltd Miriam Mukasa said.
Ms Mukasa is coordinating the launch, to be attended by Uganda’s High Commissioner to Kenya Angelina Wapakhabulo, among other senior officers.
The unveiling will be followed by a test drive at the KICC grounds.
Ms Mukasa estimated the cost of the vehicle at $30,000 (Sh2.6 million) when it is released into the market.
A hybrid electronic vehicle combines internal combustion engine propulsion system with electronic propulsion with the objective of better and economical use of fuel and performance.
Its braking system turns the heat produced into energy that charges the battery unlike the conventional brakes.
CHEAPEST NEW VEHICLE
The most popular hybrid vehicle is Toyota Prius released into the market by Japan in 1997 and by June 2013 had sold more than three million units.
The launch of the hybrid vehicle comes weeks after Kenya announced the entry of its first vehicle into the market known as Mobius at Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers based in Thika Town.
The Sh950,000 car is said to be the cheapest new vehicle in the country, which the manufacturers said was similar to the price of a seven-year-old sedan vehicle, not designed to operate on degraded roads and rough terrain, or carry the heavy load common with travellers in the region.
The car has a capacity of eight passengers and a load capacity of 625 kilogrammes and a maximum speed of 160 kilometres per hour on a five-speed manual gearbox.
The manufacturer of Mobius appointed former Safaricom chief executive officer Michael Joseph as its marketing adviser, underwriting its intention to make a strong presence in the market.
Mr Joseph is among a team of eight advisers including former car designers of top firms like Ford and General Motors.
The others are a former top Ford executive Alain Batty, who is in charge of sales, and Greg Bellopatrick, an engineering expert, who served as chief engineer at General Motors in the past.
The design expert is Patrick Le Quement, a former automotive designer at Ford and Volkswagen-Audi Group.
-
Impressive car. Did Uganda design and build the prototype. It look word class.
-
Chandaria invest in Mobius.
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/Chandaria-family-acquires-stake-in-low-cost-Mobius-car-firm-/-/539550/2519274/-/yhrcjjz/-/index.html
-
Let technology wars begin. This looks like a new era.
The ugandan car has the feel of konza city, lets hope its real. It also looks like a superimposition of jaguar and Chrysler.
-
There we go,its just wow.................
(http://www.nation.co.ke/image/view/-/2519210/highRes/873598/-/maxw/600/-/vhrcln/-/dn+hybrid+1111.JPG.jpg)
Without Prejudice.
-
(http://nipate.com/download/file.php?id=2710)
-
Looks like the Ugandan car project is a government homegrown initiative. Ugandan's have to give M7 credit for this.
The Vehicle Design Project is an innovative research project aimed at applying contemporary technologies to develop sustainable transportation solutions for Uganda and Africa. The Project was inspired by the Vehicle Design Summit (VDS), an International Student-Led Consortium aimed at Leapfrogging Sustainable Transportation Technologies. In 2008, Vehicle Design Summit (VDS) Teams from 35 Pre-eminent Research Universities built a 5 seater Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicle, The Vision 200 Led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Makerere University, the only African team, developed the Power Train and in-Vehicle Communication Network for the Vision 200.
The vision of the project is to be at the forefront of research and development of green transport technologies in Africa, while its mission is to carry out research aimed at development of cost effective and environmentally friendly transportation technologies for Africa. The Tactical Objective, on the other hand, is to build from scratch a 2-seater Electric Vehicle code-named Kiira as proof of concept, while the strategic objectives are; development of Hybrid Public transport Vehicle-(Omni-bus), and establishment of Centre of Excellence in Transportation Research.
The project is currently headed by Prof. Tickodri Togboa Sande (Deputy Principal, CEDAT) assisted by Mr. Paul Isaac Musasizi (Lecturer) and Mr. Dominic Semukuttu (Lecturer).
Its backbone research is undertaken by a group of undergraduate students and its current membership is ; Richard Madanda ELE IV (Dealing with power electronics), Gyagenda Nasser MEC IV (Dealing with vehicle mechanics), Gerald Baguma TEL IV , Diana Kagimba TEL III and Patricia Atungire TEL IV( Dealing with control and data communication)
They are also planning a Solar Bus Concept called KAYOOLA Electric Solar bus for city transit.
To emphasize her continued commitment to green Transport Solutions, CRTT immediately started working on a number of green vehicle concepts among which is the KAYOOLA Electric Solar bus for city transit. The Kayoola is a 37-seater hybrid electric / solar bus.
(http://crtt.mak.ac.ug/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/KAYOOLA-1.jpg)
(http://crtt.mak.ac.ug/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/KAYOOLA-3.jpg)
http://cedat.mak.ac.ug/research/crtt.html
-
Yes..something our universities can pick it up.
-
Yes..something our universities can pick it up.
This might not happen in the near future going by the recent squabbles going on with the courses. I think our professors take teaching as a side job to augment their earnings mainly from consulting, farming, matatu businesses etc. There is no serious incentives from the government and to a lesser extend the private sector in promoting innovation at the universities. Safaricom, samsung et al are trying a bit in the IT but other manufacturing/contractor players such as KBL, coca cola , KAM etc are yet to be seen. Yet they are the first complaining about substandard graduates.
-
I can understand why Ugandans are excited about this, but the Kenyans are a puzzle.
* Taking into account advances in technology----"green", EV, etc.---Uganda, with its M7 Sedan, has just arrived at where Kenya was, years ago, with Nyayo 1.
* A look at the Ugandan "automobile industry" that had produced the M7 Sedan shows that it is very similar to the Kenyan team that went nowhere: 1 professor from the local university, 2 researchers, and a small dog.
* Real production is an altogether different matter, but Kenya actually tried. GoK and the Japanese govt. gave out a bunch of scholarships for people to study automobile engineering in Japan, to prepare for Nyayo-One on a large scale. And off they went. I wonder what they did on graduation.
* The current automobile industry is a very tough one these days. Take a look at Saab, Volvo, Holden, etc. and even the big ones. The Ugandans themselves say they need to find $300 million before the two-men-and-a-dog can team get started on industrial production.
* A look at Ugandan papers indicates that the M7 Sedan was launched a few months ago, and it is quite the clunker---nothing like the Kampala Batmobile shown in the DN article.
And then this: "Ms Mukasa estimated the cost of the vehicle at $30,000 (Sh2.6 million) when it is released into the market."
Wow.
-
You have to give Uganda some benefit of doubt. There is a big possibility that they will get it right. I really do not buy your idea of giving up simply because a few morons tried and failed. In any case it is better to try and fail than not trying at all.
Volvo is now booming big time courtesy of partnering with Chinese. They are currently hiring massively.
Saab car section was a Swedish government pet project to keep its military engineers busy during times of peace. Their main business is weaponry and am sure they are cashing in this day and era.
-
You have to give Uganda some benefit of doubt. There is a big possibility that they will get it right. I really do not buy your idea of giving up simply because a few morons tried and failed. In any case it is better to try and fail than not trying at all.
Volvo is now booming big time courtesy of partnering with Chinese. They are currently hiring massively.
Saab car section was a Swedish government pet project to keep its military engineers busy during times of peace. Their main business is weaponry and am sure they are cashing in this day and era.
1st RED: And why exactly should I do that? I actually took the "trouble" to look at the entire history of M7 Sedan and who is behind it. It is on that basis that I see its prospects as rather dim. Take a look around the world and see how many two-men-and-a-dog teams build EVs for "summer competitions". The real question, which must be answered before the big bucks start to roll in, is actually not that complex: what exactly does the M7-Sedan team (and their allies) have to offer that cannot be easily found elsewhere or brought in from elsewhere (and probably at a lower cost)? So far, I can't think of single thing. Not even cheap labour.
A company like Volvo, which I actually know very well, did not sell itself to the Chinese because of a love for Kung Fu; the car-industry economics simply got too tough. Volvo also happens to have a lot (IP, factories, world-class engineers) that that would interest outside parties. There are numerous other instructive examples: take a look at, say, Holden, Ford, GM, and Mitsubishi in Australia and elsewhere. It's a tough world. I could be wrong---and time will tell---but I don't see many lining up to "partner" in the production of these M7 things.
2nd RED: A trite statement that's paraded around far too often, unnecessarily, and to the detriment of many misguided souls. The real truth, as borne by experience, is that there are numerous cases where it's simply not worth the bother or it's just a too-costly stupid indulgence. For a little "national-pride" project by some local university kids and a few big-ego industrialists, why not? But if it is anything that requires serious government money or anything serious by anyone serious, one would have to say that Uganda has more urgent problems to deal with than the production of $30,000 clunkers. There is an obvious alternative to getting out of bed to do something silly, costly, and doomed to fail, solely on the grounds that it has to be better than doing nothing: stay in bed and do nothing.
Of course, if Ugandans are happy with all of it, then that's just fine. Good for them. But I will repeat this:
"I can understand why Ugandans are excited about this, but the Kenyans are a puzzle."
-
Konza-City style:
(http://nipate.com/download/file.php?id=2710)
Real-Life style:
(http://mak.ac.ug/sites/default/files/styles/slide_small/public/Mak-Presidential-Initiative-Exhibition-30thJul2014-Slide.jpg?itok=iYEU8Y1k)
-
Uganda's KIIRA is good as R&D...Mobius seem to be identified a gap and are ready for market.
-
perspective from Ghanian family doing it
Although some car parts are imported, assembling the more than 1,500 pieces for a car and spraying are done by about 20 young men between the ages of 16-25 years. Amazingly, they have no formal training in building a car.
"Most of them are junior and senior high school leavers. The people who are actually racking their brains here to make things work have never been to school before," Safo Jnr said.
Six to 10 cars can be assembled and be ready for the road in a day. Four had been completed and tested by the time Al Jazeera visited. It is hard to tell they were actually assembled in Ghana, save for the Kantanka crown and inscription at the back.
"We are hoping to increase the number to 12 or 15 daily when we go commercial soon," Safo Jnr said.
"We have delayed ... going commercial because Africans and Ghanaians in general have the perception that once it is from Ghana, it is not good - durability is not assured, safety is not guaranteed. So we have decided to use the products ourselves and make sure they are good to go and standardised before we hit the market.
"I was in Brazil about six months ago and I was in tears. The whole of Rio de Janeiro was packed with Marcopolo buses ... and these are buses that were assembled and made in Brazil.
"They patronise it. In India they encourage made-in-India vehicles - like Mahindra - and that's my dream to one day see Kantanka cars on the streets of Accra, Kumasi and all over. I will be fulfilled," a visibly euphoric Safo Jnr pointed out in his office fitted with a locally made air-conditioner that is switched on and off by slotting in a card.
The card in the air-conditioner, explained Safo Jnr, works like one used for an ATM. It is programmed to start the air-conditioner, regulate the temperature and can tell the time when the unit should be turned off. It is multi-functional, he said.
.....
....
"Most of the promises they have made, they say they are in the pipelines. I'm sure African pipelines are very choked so the water is not flowing. Not even the corporate world has shown concern … We are still hoping," said Safo.
"We have had several offers from Asia and Europe, but we turn them down because we just want to stay in Africa and make sure that whatever we are doing here we'll be able to achieve our dreams.
"People tell us that we are wasting our time because we won't get anywhere. But we pay no attention to them, rather we make sure that we prove them wrong by meeting targets that we set for ourselves."
The US-trained young pilot is optimistic about the future. For him, it is a matter of trust and belief in the African.
"The whites believed in themselves and got to where they are now. They are no different from us. We all stayed in our mothers' womb for nine months ... If you cut a white and a black man you get blood. The only differences are our names and colours," he said.
"So we should believe in ourselves. We must reduce the talking and put in work."
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/08/ghana-talented-but-ignored-inventors-2014823191921173432.html
-
Look like African renaissance might be starting..
-
Ugandan-Made Hybrid Car, Kiira EV Smack, To Be Fo…:
-
http://www.nation.co.ke/business/Kiira-Hybrid-Launch-KICC/-/996/2519208/-/w54402z/-/index.html
(http://www.nation.co.ke/image/view/-/2519210/highRes/873440/-/maxw/600/-/wcyn3pz/-/dn+hybrid+1111.JPG.jpg)
Uganda has beaten Kenya by producing the first hybrid vehicle in East Africa.
The vehicle, Kiira EV SMART, which the manufacturers say will be the region’s first sedan hybrid electronic vehicle, has been developed at Kiira Motors Corporation.
Ironically, Uganda will be launching the car at Kenyatta International Convention Centre on Thursday, confirming that Nairobi is the regional financial hub.
“The reason why we are having a high profile launch is to attract investors from East African region.
“We are looking for collaboration because it’s an expensive venture. We are looking at $300 million assembly line in Jinja.
“This vehicle is a prototype and we expect to go to mass production by 2018,” managing director, Africa Talentbank.com Ltd Miriam Mukasa said.
Ms Mukasa is coordinating the launch, to be attended by Uganda’s High Commissioner to Kenya Angelina Wapakhabulo, among other senior officers.
The unveiling will be followed by a test drive at the KICC grounds.
Ms Mukasa estimated the cost of the vehicle at $30,000 (Sh2.6 million) when it is released into the market.
A hybrid electronic vehicle combines internal combustion engine propulsion system with electronic propulsion with the objective of better and economical use of fuel and performance.
Its braking system turns the heat produced into energy that charges the battery unlike the conventional brakes.
CHEAPEST NEW VEHICLE
The most popular hybrid vehicle is Toyota Prius released into the market by Japan in 1997 and by June 2013 had sold more than three million units.
The launch of the hybrid vehicle comes weeks after Kenya announced the entry of its first vehicle into the market known as Mobius at Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers based in Thika Town.
The Sh950,000 car is said to be the cheapest new vehicle in the country, which the manufacturers said was similar to the price of a seven-year-old sedan vehicle, not designed to operate on degraded roads and rough terrain, or carry the heavy load common with travellers in the region.
The car has a capacity of eight passengers and a load capacity of 625 kilogrammes and a maximum speed of 160 kilometres per hour on a five-speed manual gearbox.
The manufacturer of Mobius appointed former Safaricom chief executive officer Michael Joseph as its marketing adviser, underwriting its intention to make a strong presence in the market.
Mr Joseph is among a team of eight advisers including former car designers of top firms like Ford and General Motors.
The others are a former top Ford executive Alain Batty, who is in charge of sales, and Greg Bellopatrick, an engineering expert, who served as chief engineer at General Motors in the past.
The design expert is Patrick Le Quement, a former automotive designer at Ford and Volkswagen-Audi Group.
I don't see any competion here. These two belong to different market segments. They will hardly compete against one another. The Ugandan one is a sedan.