The Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organization (SMIDO) is on the verge of a significant technological breakthrough with the development of a vehicle that runs not on fuel, oil or water.

A prototype is set to be unveiled within the first quarter of 2014 and it is said to be now about 80 per cent complete.

It has been christened ‘SMATI Magnetic A’, and was designed and developed by engineers and artisans of the Science, Engineering and Technology Hunt for Innovation-Incubation and Investment Unit (SETH III Unit) of the Suame Magazine Automatics Technical Institute (SMATI). The vehicle is powered by a motor battery with direct current ranging from 12 volts to 60 volts energy.

Mr Samuel Ampiah, Head of SETH III Unit, indicated that the vehicle is powered by brushless induction motor that comes with an alternator, transformers, output transistors, transmission gears and chargers with an effective charging system as it is driven.

He said the motor had no limit to the distance it could travel, adding that, “so long as it is moving recharging is effective”.

Its speed range is between 160 km/hr to 300 km/hr, either manual or automatic driven.

Mr Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, Consultant to SMIDO, hailed the achievement and said it could be a historic breakthrough – pushing the frontiers of the current global automobile engineering standards.

He said it would use trademark inscription of ‘N-FOW’ indicating “a vehicle that uses No Fuel, Oil and Water in the SMATI Magnetic brand of vehicles” – Ghana and Africa’s contribution to a new global revolution in the automobile industry.

He said the ‘SMATI MAGNETIC A’ had been designed to serve as the “world’s most environmentally-friendly automobile that does not use fuel, oil and water for cooling, no carbon emissions and had virtually very little maintenance, which will save users some money and would set a new standard in Global automobile technology to establish a Ghanaian Global Technological Trademark”.

The prototype, a saloon car fitted with the SMATI Magnetic Drive, was a product of indigenous technology, he added.

Asked, if it would be shipped to Europe as the SMATI Turtle, currently on exhibition in the Netherlands, Mr Azongo said that “would amount to mortgaging our collective conscience as a nation”.

The vehicle would have to be considered on its own merit in Ghana, registered and certified to be used in the country and investment pulled domestically to ensure mass commercial production.

Funding for its development came from the Suame Magazine Industrial Development Fund (SMID Fund), which has been supporting the SMATI Magnetic incubation.

Mr. Sarpong Boateng, President of SMIDO, said the vehicle represented a significant milestone and called for the government active involvement for a successful outcome.