Engineer who claims Kiira EV was grabbed from him starts building 7-passenger car, to be ready in June 2021

Dr Jeremy Steven Ntambi one of the proprietors of the Kiira EV automobile project has now revealed that after the project was grabbed from him and all avenues to seek justice closed, he will start building a seven-passenger autonomous able vehicle.

https://nilepost.co.ug/2020/07/05/part-2-lecturers-steal-kiira-ev-project-from-student-while-away-on-further-studies-sack-him-and-colleagues/

Ntambi, who says “I am selling all I won to invest in this project, promised the vehicle should be ready for the African market by June 2021.

“I am not the kind that will get any support from the government and that is how we did with our first project for Kiira EV. We will have to do what is required,” he said.

When pressed to mention how he intends to achieve results in such a project without much funding, Ntambi said he will start with whatever he has.

“For me, it is not about making money, it is about getting this done right and getting us a proper authentic chance. I am selling everything I have to set this up. If I wait for all the right conditions, we will never get anything done,” he said.

Ntambi claims it is time to inspire people everywhere with big ideas who lack the resources to act independently to seek the expertise and resources they need to make serious traction on the wide range of diffuse challenges facing our planet today.

“Our mantra is energy from lifelong professionals and students with a passion for change, a space with enough constraints to harness creativity while creating a tangible vehicle for the world’s imagination and a race to end global warming. We, in the most global of senses, are the people we have been waiting for. We hope to take this opportunity to work together,” he said.

The car according to its specifics, was inspired by the Matatu Taxi, a commuter 11-passenger taxi, and achieves at least 70 percent reduction in embodied global warming potential and hazards to human health cradle-to-grave.

The vehicle will also be manufactured for use for at least 18 hours a day.

Ntambi says will set up more than 30 teams working on vehicle subsystem design, systems engineering, market analysis, user-interactions, and supply chain design.

“Each team will have between 5 and 25 members. By mid-2021 we aim to have the first fully bench-marked vehicle prototype driving in time for the 2021- New York Motor-show. By end of 2021 a comprehensive set of supply-chain contracts for all subsystems, at least 100,000 people who have placed an initial down-payment for the vehicle and a production partner willing to invest in seeing the Vision made real,” he says.

“Today the vehicle stands as a plug-in series hybrid vehicle to be sold with on-site clean power in the form of either wind or solar. The on-board Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) used to extend range will be integrated in such a way that it can be easily removed. The developed consortium will be tasked to work and develop APU engines capable of combusting hydrogen, ethanol, and biodiesel such that depending upon location or time of year fuel choice would be flexible,” he adds.

The all-electric range is set around 150 km while the total driving range is dependent on the size of the fuel tank. Both active and passive safety systems will be designed to meet N-Cap five-star safety ratings.

“We hope that the potential market opportunity for emerging green-tech companies in Uganda and Africa provided by such a vehicle can help to enable Uganda to lead the continent and the world out of the energy crisis and establish a significantly more sustainable, profitable and safe automotive industry,” he claims.