Zim bound car maker says it has developed a self-charging electric car

Valentine Muhamba Avatar
Electric Vehicle, EV, Motor Industry, ZERA vehicles, self-charging electric car, Agilitee

Agilitee is a name that the Techzim faithful will be familiar with because towards the middle of last year the South African-based car manufacturer announced that it was going to be building an assembly plant for electric vehicles in Zimbabwe. Well… the company is back in the news again saying that it has launched what would be a first in Africa because the car manufacturer says that it has developed a self-charging electric car called the Agilitee Go according to a report by The Herald.

The vehicle reportedly has a range of 300km and self charges…

“This underpins Agilitee’s focus on leveraging green energy, green technology and innovation to enhance the ecological footprint of electric vehicles, mainly impacted by the use of large and heavy batteries. This first full electric vehicle is intended to provide Agilitee customers with peace of mind and comfort when seeking to travel longer than normal distances,”

Dr Mandla Lamba, CEO of Agilitee Africa (via The Herald)

The unfortunate thing about the report was that there was no explanation of how the technology worked. At face value, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that it has built a self-charging electric car of some kind that rewrites what is currently possible. I say that because electric cars can already self-charge if they are hybrids or have regenerative breaking like the all-electric BYD T3 we test drove late last year.

Self-charging electric cars

Regenerative braking is when cars convert the energy that would be wasted when slowing down and turn it into electrical energy. This system was particularly pronounced when I drove EV Centre Africa’s BYD T3. I didn’t have to depress the brake pedal all that much because the car, when I lifted off the “throttle”, started slowing itself down.

However, the gains made from regenerative breaking are so marginal that they are almost negligible in some cases. The estimates I could find were that it could convert between 16% -70% of the energy from deceleration into electricity. Which will add some range but nothing that would eliminate the need to plug in the vehicle to a charging station.

The second kind of vehicle that can charge itself in the family of electric cars is Self-Charging Hybrid Vehicles which don’t need to be plugged in like their Plug-Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) cousins. Lexus is one of a handful of carmakers that makes these kinds of vehicles (Lexus UX 250h).

“Fill the car up with petrol like any other conventional petrol car. Our Self-Charging Hybrid system cleverly charges the electric battery while you are driving. Not just on the move, but when you stop or slow down, the regenerative braking system recovers even more energy.”

Lexus

That said there have been concepts of cars that can charge via dynamic induction like what Renault said it was working on in 2019. As well as solar cell-powered cars like the one from German startup Sono Motors but all of these are in various stages of development.

Is Agilitee on the cusp of putting Elon Musk out of business?

Well… not yet anyway, but Dr Lamba once mentioned a partially self-charging vehicle. In a conversation with Mail and Guardian last year, he said the following

“Agilitee is building a double-cab bakkie that is partly self-charging. We acquired a company in Zimbabwe and have sold more than 30 EVs there. These cars charge from wall-boxes at home, which are solar powered. I believe that there is already progress in charging.”

Going by this tidbit, my best guess is that whatever Agilitee has cooking might be Self-Charging Hybrid because regenerative braking won’t make enough power to top off an EV or to classify it as “self-charging” in the purest sense.

However, to know for sure what we have on our hands, we reached out to Agilitee to see if they could shed some light on this development. Once we hear back we will most certainly let you know.

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11 comments

  1. Imwe Mbeu

    Great! Waiting for the update 😃

  2. Prince

    What a load of bollocks! Your article is painfully forced to give the wrong impression yet you can’t clearly state the obvious that this car will not be self charged as purported

    1. Valentine Muhamba

      Why don’t we wait till we hear what they have to say…

      1. Prince

        We wait – but after calling it what it is – ‘Bull’.
        In any case how long are we supposed to wait before calling it?

  3. Hugh Jarse

    Somethings not mentioned, which would be useful: (1) How much will the vehicle cost? (2) How easy are the batteries to get, along with their cost? (3) How long will the batteries last? (4) Spares and repairs due to normal wear and tear? Prince has a point above as well! Considering that most of this would have to be imported,, it’s not going to be within reach of most people, cost-wise, especially as zpf will tear the ring out of it with all the import duties, surtax(es), VAT, and any other charges they can think of! Remember who’s in power still! That’s why Zimbabwe is in the mess it is today, and there’s no sign of improvement there either!

  4. Anonymous

    Dr Lamba is a suspicious character. Has too many previous fraud cases and charges against him to be trust worthy. His vehicles specifications do not match performance and neither do the prices. I would be careful of supporting him.

  5. Imi Vanhu Musadaro

    I think this article serves to just perpetuate the wrong perception created in the Herald article. The Herald made the car sound like a perpetual energy vehicle. Your article does little to avert those less science minded from this incorrect line of thinking.

    Sadly, even if you put a slice of bread sized solar panel on a EV and hook it up to the battery charging system, you can claim it’s self charging vehicle.

    Self-charging is being used as a marketing gimmick with specifying how much further non-self charging would be needed. It’s like a car manufacturer claiming a car is self-washing, when it just washes its windscreens with its wipers.

    1. Prince

      True that!
      It’s particularly annoying reading such on a ‘Tech’ focused site

  6. S.Savic

    To nice to be true!!!

  7. Vernon La Cock

    a Scam, Where is this clown going to get the funds and yes Imi Vanhu Musadaro good couple of simple questions. Sounds like the Mara cellphone plan.

  8. M2

    Sounds much like that other greener power machine perpetual motion machine fraudster

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