60° ABOUT TUKZIE

Born from a question.
Built with purpose.

Tukzie is a University of Cape Town-led electric mobility programme developing a locally engineered vehicle platform for practical African mobility. Inspired by the African rhino, it brings together strength, resilience and purposeful design with real-world engineering.

UCT-led Founded 2026 Physical prototype

01 OUR PURPOSE

A workshop question,
answered in metal.

What would practical electric mobility look like if the architecture, integration and engineering decisions were made here, around the conditions and capabilities found here?

That question became Tukzie — a physical platform through which students, researchers, academics and technical staff can design, build, test and improve electric mobility technologies in the real world.

The goal is not simply to assemble a vehicle. It is to build the capability to understand, adapt, service and ultimately create the technologies behind it.

02 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

Design inspiration pairing the Tukzie vehicle with the African rhino

Inspired by
the rhino.

The African rhino influenced more than Tukzie's visual identity. Its strength, protective form, grounded stance and resilience became cues for the character the vehicle is intended to embody.

The rhino is not a mascot.
It is a design philosophy.

Strength

A robust architecture built around practical use.

Protection

An enclosed form that places occupants and critical systems within the vehicle architecture.

Resilience

Designed with maintainability, repair and iteration in mind.

Purpose

Form follows the job the vehicle must do — not decoration for its own sake.

03 OUR MISSION

Engineering that has to work.

Develop electric mobility that is practical to build, understand, maintain and improve locally — and prove the engineering through real prototypes and real testing.

Not engineering that ends with a render. Engineering that has to start, carry a load, climb a road, survive testing and come back to the workshop better understood.

Engineer with evidence

Measure before claiming. Test results, limitations and failures inform the next revision.

Design for the context

Engineering decisions are shaped by practical operating conditions, infrastructure, cost and maintainability.

Design to be understood

Serviceability, accessible diagnostics and replaceable systems are considered alongside performance.

Learn by building

Students and researchers work on a real integrated vehicle, where decisions must survive implementation and testing.

04 OUR VISION

African capability behind African mobility.

A future in which electric mobility used on the continent can also be engineered, integrated, maintained and progressively manufactured here.

Tukzie is a vehicle today, but the ambition extends beyond the vehicle: to create engineering capability, knowledge, research, skills and technologies that can support a broader African electric-mobility ecosystem.

More than a vehicle — one platform connects them all

Vehicle

Architecture, structure, dynamics and practical mobility.

Energy

Battery systems, charging, power electronics and energy integration.

Intelligence

Sensing, control, communications, telemetry and digital systems.

Capability

People, testing, manufacturing knowledge and local engineering experience.

Explore the engineering →

05 PEOPLE & UCT

Built within UCT.
Connected beyond it.

Tukzie brings together academics, technical staff, undergraduate and postgraduate researchers across multiple engineering disciplines.

Industry and research collaboration is central to how the programme progresses from prototype to validated mobility technology.

Programme Dr Sampath Jayalath Programme Convener & Academic Steering

Programme Convener and Academic Steering
Wireless Charging and Energy Integration
Digital Twin and Simulation Integration (with A/Prof Simon Winberg)
Dashboard, Telemetry and Data Visualisation (with A/Prof Simon Winberg)

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Vehicle Mr Yusuf Vawda Vehicle Architecture Lead & Technical Implementation Lead

Vehicle Architecture, 3D Scan and Baseline Characterisation
Body Panels and Additive Manufacturing (with Mr Riyaad Jacobs)
Project coordination, systems integration and prototype development (Technical Leadership & Implementation Team)

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