Learner’s drive takes him to Bali
Durban — He’s a bright science-loving youngster with future plans – and he won’t let South Africa’s youth unemployment hold him back.
Two years of constant tinkering on the prototype of a solar vehicle have paid off and now S’qiniseko Mpilenhle Mpontshane, 19, will fly to Bali on Tuesday to compete in the International Science Technology Engineering Competition in Indonesia.
For the Grade 12 pupil at Mandla Mthethwa School of Excellence in Ndumu, the moment is surreal and he is as nervous as he is excited.
“It’s big, it’s one of the biggest moments in my life. I never thought that at this age, in high school, I would get an opportunity to fly to other countries. It’s just stupendous for me.”
His project, titled “Sustainable transportation using a solar-powered autonomous car”, was selected after it was nominated by a panel of academics and professionals at the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists International Science Fair in October.
Mpontshane said the 2021 Eskom Expo challenged them to come up with a project that would address some of the world’s most challenging issues.
“The transportation industry has too many gaps and I made a solar car because of the rocketing price of fuel in South Africa.”
He participated in an online district expo where he was awarded a bronze medal for his project. In 2022 he improved his project and added a self-drive mode to the prototype.
“You get into the car, select a destination and it will tell you the length of time it will take to get there. If you’re in a hurry then you’re going to select top speed and if not, then it will tell you that it will take more time.”
The upgrades and the prizes continued and at a district expo later that year he was awarded a gold medal, crowned category winner for engineering and his prototype was named best innovative project.
As the competitions and medals accrued, so too did the upgrades which Mpontshane made to the prototype.
He even added a wireless trailer to reduce the number of accidents on the road, as well as a “super charging station” which could aid the electric vehicle industry.
“The wireless trailer is not attached to the car but follows it without putting a burden on the car. What happens is that when the car turns, the trailer will have a certain delay, then turn. Many accidents happen because people don’t know how to drive with a trailer. My trailer knows how much weight it can take and at what speed it can go with that weight. You even save money because at the moment you have to get a code 10 or code 14 to drive a trailer, but you don’t need that with a wireless trailer,” he said.
With the supercharging station he developed, his car and trailer could be fully charged in less than 10 minutes.
“So it was a big improvement, because we know the electric car industry faces challenges such as the long time it takes to charge an electric car,” said Mpontshane.
When the Independent on Saturday interviewed the teenager this week, he was hard at work doing touch-ups to make the car “more presentable”, so that “when a person looks at it he can see the future. Even when an investor wants to come and invest, he can see the future in the project.”
Mpontshane said he attended multiple interviews before he cracked the nod to compete in the international competition and when the letter arrived he was gobsmacked.
“It was just a hell of a moment for me. I didn’t believe it and I was scared to tell people. I stayed with the letter for about three hours. I cried and cried, then I remembered my hard work, sleepless nights, working through holidays.”
Despite his many accolades, Mpontshane is not going to university. He doesn’t have the money and he has seen too many engineering graduates, like his teachers, who are unable to find work in their chosen fields.
“Next year I’m applying for learnerships so that I can get a company that will train me for about three years and then employ me. Then I’ll save to build an actual car, because it’s hard to find anyone to fund your company or your project. And bear in mind that if you ask a person to fund your project, they will want to have shares which are more than you as the owner of the company.”
There’s no limit to his grit and determination and he might even be a step ahead of Elon Musk’s Tesla, which manufactures electric vehicles.
“I came up with a self-driving solar electric car, while Tesla has self-driving cars which don’t have a solar board on them.”
Independent on Saturday