‘An honour and privilege’

Seven Caribbean nations recently lent varying levels of mechanical and electrical expertise to create the region’s first jointly built electric vehicle (EV).

With participants drawn from Jamaica, Antigua, Belize, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia, the automotive breakthrough came during an EV Assembly workshop hosted recently by The University of the West Indies (UWI)’s Faculty of Science and Technology.

For Belizean Eric Vernon, an automotive instructor employed to the Institute for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ITVET) in his homeland, being involved in the multinational workshop - which also doubled as the official opening for UWI’s E-Mobility Lab - was deeply meaningful.

“What really stood out [for me] was the fact that UWI, Mona and the participants have a bond beyond our years on Earth,” the 60-year-old Vernon philosophically observed.

He was in a celebratory mode and speaking in an interview that followed the ceremonial ribbon-cutting event to declare the university’s lab now fully functional.

“Knowing our hand prints are forever etched in this E-Mobility Lab for generations to come as a result of our collaborative efforts is beyond words. It was indeed an honour and privilege to be part of history introducing the EV programme for the first time,” Vernon reflected.

The week-long EV Assembly workshop was a partnered programme funded by the JPS Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Lab, the German embassy and the tertiary institution’s science and technology department.

Selected by the Belizean ITVET’s management to be enrolled in the Kingston-based workshop, Vernon shared that back home, his job saw him teaching automotive practice for the last 15 years to both daytime and evening classes.

“Additionally, trainees and I do diagnostics, preventative maintenance, and repairs as an income earner that benefits both trainees and the institution,” he added.

“I am guided by the Caribbean Vocational Qualification curriculum, which gives me leverage to add electric/hybrid vehicles. Collectively, we do a lot of research to enhance our knowledge in Internal Combustion Engines and Electric Vehicles.”

In Vernon’s estimation, the EV workshop was most enlightening.

Systematic way

“The systematic way the installation was done, from start to finish, afforded me a greater appreciation of the intricacies as to the operation of electric vehicles. It was an amazing experience for me.”

The learning process involved the 11 participants in the workshop, which included Vernon building an electric-powered, two-seater auto with an exoskeleton frame that sat on three wheels.

The biggest takeaway for the visiting automotive instructor was acquiring fresh insights into his professional field.

“For a while now, I have been doing some research in terms of refurbishing the battery pack. I actually was afforded the opportunity, for the first time, to balance a battery pack with 32 cells,” he shared.

It was Vernon’s second trip to Jamaica as he was previously here last October for a trainer workshop at the Jamaican-German Automotive School. That workshop provided advanced skills covering diagnostic, maintenance, and repair technologies.

Much like Vernon, Nicholson Webster, a chief foreman mechanic from St Kitts, also found the recently staged EV workshop at UWI particularly illuminating.

“The training was very interesting because we built the car from scratch. We did everything from the mechanical side to the electrical side, and we were able to get everything done in five days,” he disclosed. “I really look forward to going back home and implementing some of the things that I have learnt.”

Back in St Kitts, Webster has oversight responsibility at the Public Works Department in the Ministry of Infrastructure. There, he manages employees in the day-to-day maintenance of the government’s fleet of 200 vehicles across the various ministries.

Webster said his participation in the EV workshop was timely given that his home island is looking ahead to the integration of automotive options.

“We [the St Kitts government} are set to receive two EV buses from Taiwan, so that is the whole purpose of me being here,” he revealed.

As to the week-long training at UWI, the mechanic shared: “I have never really worked on EV motors because it is relatively new, so I have not been exposed to a whole lot of training because EV in the Caribbean is new, and we are trying to get abreast and learn as much as we can. To see the motor and how it operates, that would have been an eye-opening experience.”

The high-level mechanic was appreciative of the expansive nature of what he was able to absorb.

Different functions

“EV is broad and has many components. You could have training on the charging systems, the motors, and different functions of the vehicle, but to have such an intricate, comprehensive participation in this workshop made it interesting.”

Dr Louis-Ray Harris, senior lecturer in UWI’s Department of Physics, was the man guiding the EV workshop that elicited joint praises from participants culled from across the region.

“The energy was there, the interest and humour were there, it was a good team spirit,” assessed Harris of the multinational assembly workshop.

“The sessions were very involved, and there were some days the participants left later than they had planned. This was a dedicated set of persons and truly a Caribbean project.”

Detailing the target demographic for the workshop, the academic noted that it was composed of “persons who are instructors in technical institutions, from automotive dealerships, first responders, and planners. In the case of Jamaica, persons from the Planning Institute of Jamaica”.

The workshop’s participants were split into two teams, according to Harris, and tasked with responsibilities as directed by prepared manuals.

“We built it [the EV car] from the chassis only, and they were required to put everything together. For the mechanical part, they got the wheels on, installed the brakes and the steering, bled the brakes, and everything needed from that perspective,” he explained of Team A’s to-do list.

Further to this, the participants mounted the motor, which led to Team B entering the picture.

“The other team that was involved in the electrical side of things did all the wiring for the battery cells and the battery pack. There was also the wiring that was required to provide power to the dashboard, programming, and the battery-management system.”

The science lecturer said that at the workshop’s end, “we were able to see the assembled product and saw that it worked. There were a few hiccups along the way, but it was a largely successful project. We want to continue this and allow subsequent sets of students to take part in this build. At some point soon, it will be disassembled, partially at least, and we will have reassembly by different cohorts of students, who will get to go through the process of building and wiring”.

He stressed that the wiring aspect was key.

Initial feedback

“Especially the wiring of the battery, the motor, the programming, and the different aspects. Each set of students will be able to go through that. It is something that will benefit them, and based on the initial feedback we have had so far, it had definitely benefited those who were involved.”

Espousing the long-term vision plan for the university’s science and technology faculty, Harris wants it to “be the go-to place for everything science in Jamaica and, indeed, the region as well”.

“We want to do so by providing opportunities that students will get in this e-mobility lab. We expect that students will be attracted to science by using the opportunity to build a car from almost scratch. It is something that excites persons not just in the science field ... it could be persons who are in high school or persons pursuing CAPE subjects and trying to decide which field to go in.”

JPS Foundation Chairman Damian Obiglio, who was attending the opening ceremony for UWI’s E-Mobility Lab, gave both the EV Assembly workshop and E-Mobility Lab his stamp of approval.

“I am pleased because we are able to see the final milestone of the e-Drive programme that we had with the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank),” he noted, referring to the co-partnered programme that wrapped in 2024 after its five-year project duration. Its three main focus areas were innovative technology and finance, technical capacity building and training, and marker sensitisation.

“Having this E-mobility facility here and the EV car driving around, which can be assembled and disassembled many times, and the students learn how to do it, is part of the education that is needed to appreciate the importance of e-mobility,” Obiglio observed.