{"id":237323,"date":"2022-09-16T10:37:20","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T08:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/soshanguve-learners-build-one-of-a-kind-solar-powered-train\/"},"modified":"2022-09-16T10:37:20","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T08:37:20","slug":"soshanguve-learners-build-one-of-a-kind-solar-powered-train","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/soshanguve-learners-build-one-of-a-kind-solar-powered-train\/","title":{"rendered":"Soshanguve learners build one-of-a-kind solar powered train"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"article_body\">\n<p><a class=\"bigger-image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/uploads\/images\/photographers\/Chris%20Gilili\/soshanguve_solar_train.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/soshanguve-learners-build-one-of-a-kind-solar-powered-train.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Learner Mpho Bongwe, mentor Kgomotso Maimane and learner Lethabo Nkadimeng (from left to right) of the Soshanguve Technical School, of Specialisation, show off their newly built solar train. Photos: Chris Gilili<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Several Gauteng learners from Soshanguve Technical High School have built a one-of-a-kind solar powered train.<\/li>\n<li>Considering the country\u2019s energy crisis and rising fuel costs, they started working on the locomotive in 2020.<\/li>\n<li>The train is powered with a solar panel, has power sockets and a TV screen. It currently runs at 30 kilometres per hour.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hard work and sacrifice has paid off for several learners from Soshanguve Technical High School of automotive specialisation. They designed and built a one-of-a-kind solar powered train locomotive.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt class=\"leave\" height=\"1\" id=\"gu_counter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/soshanguve-learners-build-one-of-a-kind-solar-powered-train.gif\" width=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>Fondly named Modjadji, after the Rain Queen of the people of Limpopo, it is blue and white, with mirrors, wipers, carpets and enough space inside for two passengers.<\/p>\n<p>Grade 12 innovator Lethabo Nkadimeng said the country\u2019s energy crisis and rising fuel costs inspired them to make a solar train. They started working on the locomotive in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m honoured to have been part of such an innovation. We sacrificed a lot of our time and I\u2019m grateful I never gave up,\u201d said Nkadimeng.<\/p>\n<p>The train is powered with a solar panel, has power sockets and a TV screen. It currently runs at 30 kilometres per hour. \u201cWe still want to extend the platform and make it longer, and to test its full speed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nkadimeng said they were also hoping to change the perception around technical schools and to inspire their peers to dream big.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe also used a lot of theory which informed the practical side of building the train. We want to inspire other learners. We need to be innovative and think like entrepreneurs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Nkadimeng said he has already received offers to study Computer Science at Stellenbosch University and Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town.<\/p>\n<p>Mpho Bongwe, who also worked on the train, said while they were doing research for the project, they visited Transnet. He said one of the employees scoffed at their idea, saying it was \u201cimpossible\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut we never stopped and managed to pull it off. We would like to inspire kids to also think beyond the impossible. I\u2019m inspired by countries like China that support kids to be innovative. We hope the train will break the limits in the way we think,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The school operated as a technical high school after 1996 and was relaunched as a school of specialisation, with a special focus on the automotive sector in 2019. The school has over 800 learners. The school is also in close proximity to major automotive plants such as Nissan and BMW in the Rosslyn industrial area.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"bigger-image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/uploads\/images\/photographers\/Chris%20Gilili\/two_passager_train.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/soshanguve-learners-build-one-of-a-kind-solar-powered-train-1.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">The train has enough space inside for two passengers and currently runs at 30 kilometres per hour.<\/p>\n<p>Principal Amos Mashiane told GroundUp that he couldn\u2019t be more proud of the learners. \u201cIt stands for the core values of this school which are creativity and innovation. It took a year and and a half to complete this train \u2026 On Christmas day and New Years those learners were working,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe worked with the little funds \u2026 We are now asking for investment because it can work.\u201d He said they needed to import a motor for the train from China because they could not find one locally.<\/p>\n<p>Mashiane said the total cost of the train was just shy of half a million. He said a grant from the Gauteng Department of Education helped them cover the cost of building the train.<\/p>\n<p>The principal said he still hopes they can expand the school to accommodate more learners.<\/p>\n<p>Kgomotso Maimane, who was mentoring the learners through the project, said, \u201cLearners from different trades within the school were involved in the project. It involved a lot of thinking outside the box. It was tough but you could see they were not giving up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe literature review and research alone took them months. It was not an easy thing to do,\u201d said Maimane.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"bigger-image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/uploads\/images\/photographers\/Chris%20Gilili\/train.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/soshanguve-learners-build-one-of-a-kind-solar-powered-train-2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Last Thursday, the group exhibited their solar train at the Sasol Innovation Expo at Carnival City in Brakpan, on the East Rand. One of the learners will present and participate at Eskom\u2019s expo for young scientists in Johannesburg in December.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"article_copyright\">\n<p>\u00a9 2022 GroundUp. This article is licensed under a <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\" rel=\"license\">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and GroundUp, and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.<\/p>\n<p>We put an invisible pixel in the article so that we can count traffic to republishers. All analytics tools are solely on our servers. We do not give our logs to any third party. Logs are deleted after two weeks. We do not use any IP address identifying information except to count regional traffic. We are solely interested in counting hits, <b>not tracking<\/b> users. If you republish, please do not delete the invisible pixel.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/soshanguve-learners-build-one-of-a-kind-solar-powered-train.jpg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/\">Source: GroundUp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learner Mpho Bongwe, mentor Kgomotso Maimane and learner Lethabo Nkadimeng (from left to right) of the Soshanguve Technical School, of Specialisation, show off their newly built solar train. Photos: Chris Gilili Several Gauteng learners from Soshanguve Technical High School have built a one-of-a-kind solar powered train. Considering the country\u2019s energy crisis and rising fuel costs, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":237324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9928],"tags":[28001],"class_list":{"0":"post-237323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-groundup","8":"tag-groundup","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/soshanguve-learners-build-one-of-a-kind-solar-powered-train.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}