Growing up in Dennilton, Limpopo, Mokgethwa Mbanjwa never had much experience of electrical appliances and had little idea how a hot-water geyser worked.
But when she was a 15-year-old in grade 7, the desire to wash with warm water before school drove her to fix a broken electric kettle using a knife as a screwdriver.
“Fixing the kettle led me to repair other household appliances, and our neighbours began to bring their items to me for repairs. This brought in some extra money, and one of our neighbours even rewarded me with tools after I fixed his extension lead,” said Mbanjwa, now 32.
“Witnessing the successful repairs amazed my family, solidifying my passion for electrical engineering.”
Mbanjwa, an electrical engineer who graduated from the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), was the only woman to participate in the recent assembly of the country’s first electric minibus taxi.
In a collaborative project between Stellenbosch University’s department of industrial engineering, Oxford University and Mbanjwa’s employer Rham Equipment, about 11 engineers, mostly postgraduate students, converted a petrol-powered Toyota HiAce Ses’fikile minibus taxi into an electric vehicle.
Prof Thinus Booysen from Stellenbosch University, who led the project, said EVs were being made in South Africa, but most were exported.
The prototype electric taxi, used to prove the concept, is being tested for road safety and performance..
Booysen said the retrofitted minibus, funded by the South African Energy Development Institute, was the beginning of a process that could create jobs.
“More than 70% of the trips in South Africa are by minibus, which is why we hope to encourage the retrofitting of some of the 250,000 minibuses in the country with electric propulsion. These will be cheaper and much more environmentally friendly than new electric vehicles.
“With this venture, we want to help build the skills needed to manufacture EVs locally and create awareness about how much we could save with electric taxis.”
Booysen said remaining in the slow lane of the EV transition could put thousands of jobs at risk: “The automotive industry and our government cannot afford to be asleep at the wheel.”
For the electric taxi, Mbanjwa said she was in charge of programming the human machine interface (HMI) that makes “it easy for people to control the machines using computers”.
“I’m an engineer who works with electronics and electricity, and my main job was to make sure the screens and buttons on these interfaces worked well with all the electronic components,” she said. “My skills were a great fit for this job ... and I played a big part in making the project successful.”
In this role, I found myself involved in calibrating the motors that powered these machines. This experience not only expanded my skill set but also allowed me to contribute to cutting-edge advances.
— Mokgethwa Mbanjwa
“In this role, I found myself involved in calibrating the motors that powered these machines. This experience not only expanded my skill set but also allowed me to contribute to cutting-edge advances.”
Raised by her maternal grandmother, Mbanjwa only started school at the age of eight because her parents’ separation meant she didn’t have the documents she needed to enrol.
“This situation made me one of the oldest students in my class, and it led to challenges with bullying. However, I overcame those challenges by excelling academically. Though we didn’t have much, my grandmother always ensured that my cousins and I had shelter, food and clothes.”
She obtained her TUT qualifications with the help of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
According to a report last year by the Engineering Council of South Africa, only 7% of engineers in the country are women, and only 13% of graduates with qualifications in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (Stem) are women.
“Navigating a male-dominated space, there are instances when it feels like my voice goes unheard or misunderstood due to gender dynamics,” Mbanjwa said.
“Being a woman in a field often associated with physical demands has made me acknowledge that certain activities require physical strength. While I may sometimes require assistance from my male counterparts in this aspect, it doesn’t undermine my capabilities.”
Rham Equipment CEO Kevin Reynders said working on the project with the university “allowed us to plough back into engineering students’ development and to contribute to sustainable mobility in South Africa’s dynamic vehicle landscape”.
With electric motor power of 90kW and a battery capacity of 53.76kWh, the taxi’s “electric power train brings enhanced agility and an exhilarating driving experience to the minibus”.
The battery can be charged in just over two hours.
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