SMIDO to unveil new prototype vehicle next year
The Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organisation (SMIDO) is preparing to unveil a new prototype vehicle that runs without fuel, oil and water, by the end of March 2014.
Advertisement
To be known as ‘SMARTI Magnetic A,’ the saloon vehicle would be a major technological breakthrough for SMIDO, which already has a prototype vehicle it produced early this year - SMARTI Turtle 1 - undergoing trials in the Netherlands.
An official statement from the SMIDO headquarters in Kumasi issued at the weekend said the building of the prototype vehicle was about 80 per cent complete.
“SMARTI Magnetic A is a new global prototype vehicle, that uses no fuel, oil and water with a trademark inscription of N-FOW indicating a vehicle that uses no fuel, oil and water in the SMATI Magnetic brand of vehicles.
“That would become the hallmark of Ghana and Africa’s contribution to a new global revolution in the automobile industry,” the statement said.
Giving details on the project, the consultant to SMIDO, Mr Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, said the SMATI Magnetic A had been designed to be environmentally-friendly.
He said it would be economically viable to use the vehicle as it would save users some money.
According to Mr Azongo, “The battery of the vehicle charges automatically upon movement and one requires the first 30km per hour to charge the battery which then automatically switches to the alternator, “ adding that “One can also plug it to electricity to charge.”
He said no decision had yet been taken to ship the vehicle to Europe for testing as happened to SMARTI Turtle 1.
“The vehicle would have to be considered on its own merit in Ghana, registered and certified to be used on the Ghanaian soil and investment pulled domestically to ensure mass commercial production in Ghana,” Mr Azongo said.
The consultant stated that the SMIDO Fund, an investment promotion sub-sector of SMIDO, was supporting the development of the vehicle.
The President of SMIDO, Mr Sarpong Boateng, said the technological breakthrough” was a great revolution to deepen respect for artisan engineers as agents of change in the ‘‘wheels of nation development.”
He appealed to the government to show interest in the project to ensure that it materialised to bring fame and honour to the nation.
