• Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Login
Watchdog Uganda
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
    • National
    • Politics
    • World News
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Motorsport
  • Business
    • Agriculture
    • Finance
    • RealEstate
    • Technology
  • Op-Ed
  • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
    • Showbiz
    • Big Brother Naija Dairy
  • People
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Stars
    • Politicians
  • Special Report
    • Education
  • Travel
  • Video
  • Luganda
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • National
    • Politics
    • World News
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Motorsport
  • Business
    • Agriculture
    • Finance
    • RealEstate
    • Technology
  • Op-Ed
  • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
    • Showbiz
    • Big Brother Naija Dairy
  • People
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Stars
    • Politicians
  • Special Report
    • Education
  • Travel
  • Video
  • Luganda
No Result
View All Result
Watchdog Uganda
No Result
View All Result

Out To Lunch: The Future of Work: Electric Vehicles

watchdog by watchdog
2 years ago
in #Out2Lunch, Op-Ed
5 0
ShareTweetSendShare

By Denis Jjuuko

Imagine you are planning to buy another car, the one that has had your heart racing whenever you see it in traffic or whenever you visit the carmaker’s website. Imagine you make a call to your mechanic — the one who doesn’t work with the brand new car dealership. Yes, that mechanic who works in what you would call a makeshift garage; the guy who looks like he smears himself with lots of used oil and grease.

If you intend to buy a newer model vehicle, you will have the mechanic’s heart racing. “Mzee, eyo emmotoka erina amasanyalaze mangi nnyo,” he will say meaning that the car has many electronic components and therefore extremely hard to maintain and repair by his standards.

It is not unusual to hear people who want to buy cars saying they prefer old models and the dealers sell them expensively because they know our mechanics don’t know how to repair newer model vehicles.

Imagine your child has just finished their senior six exams and is looking for something to do. Enrolling them into a school that can teach him repairing newer model cars is something you may think about. Uganda has banned the importation of cars, which are older than 15 years, which means that in 2020, you will have to buy a vehicle that was made in 2006 or later.

Yet many of our mechanics fear them because they learn on the job and don’t want to invest in modern diagnostic devices that can help them establish why a vehicle is malfunctioning. In fact, many of today’s mechanics are going to become jobless soon unless if they keep on learning new things.

Kiira Motors has made two fully electric buses and has imported two electric chargers. There are adverts of guys selling fully electric boda bodas and tuk-tuks (tricycles) in Kampala. Places like the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre have fully electric golf carts that move around tourists. The future of electric vehicles is here.

But how many of our mechanics are thinking electric vehicles? Not many. The majority of mechanics even fear a 2019 internal combustion engine vehicle. A mechanic’s strategy is based on scaring customers from buying newer model vehicles. It is the wrong strategy.

The right strategy for any mechanic or anybody looking for a skill is to study how electric vehicles work and position themselves as the best mechanic for this category.

About five million electric vehicles were sold in 2018 and numbers are only going to grow. Some of these vehicles will soon be on the market. The battery capabilities have strongly improved. The Tesla Model S has a range of 600km when fully charged. Kiira Motors’ Kayoola EVS buses can do 300km on a single charge, which means that they can do 3.4 round trips from Kampala to Entebbe airport before they are charged again.

You can dismiss the potential of electric vehicles in a country like Uganda only at your peril. When I was growing up, most people feared cars with automatic gearboxes saying that if the battery has an issue, you can’t call some boys to push it and jump-start it like a manual transmission vehicle!

We were told that a car with power windows and central lock doors is so dangerous because if they malfunctioned, somebody may get stuck in it. So people avoided buying such cars until a time when almost no vehicles with manual windows were being made anymore. Nobody today complains about failing to jumpstart a car with an automatic transmission.

However, the mechanics who failed to adjust to the changing trends found themselves out of work just like those who are referring to electronic components of vehicles will be out of work soon. Those who won’t learn how electric vehicles work will be left out.

So if you are looking for a career for your child or yourself, think electric vehicles because that is the future of work.

The Writer is Communication and Visibility Consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

 


Do you have a story in your community or an opinion to share with us: Email us at editorial@watchdoguganda.com

Share1Tweet1SendShare

Related Posts

Mike Ssegawa
Conversations with

MIKE SSEGAWA: Tourism is the game changer to bring back Jinja city’s glory

21st May 2022 at 08:48
Hawk's Eye Lodge main block
Conversations with

Bunyaruguru Dispatch-Destinations: Hawk’s Eye is out of the world with its exclusive views of Bunyonyi 

20th May 2022 at 08:58
Steven Dunstan Busuulwa
Conversations with

STEVEN DUNSTAN BUSUULWA: Corrupt government officials in panic mode as Gen Isoke starts to bite

19th May 2022 at 18:39
Next Post

Uganda, Somalia pledge to continue supporting their forces to wipe out Al Shabab

Follow us on Twitter

Trending Posts

  • President Yoweri Museveni

    Government in confusion on how to effect salary increment for science teachers

    39 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • It’s not Andrew Mwenda! Sheebah finally reveals identity of ‘big man’ in government who sexually assaulted her

    26 shares
    Share 10 Tweet 7
  • A sneak peek into Sudhir’s Ruparelia Group of Companies, Here are businesses under the conglomerate 

    24 shares
    Share 10 Tweet 6
  • Migyera road accident kills 3 

    10 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • LIST: New salary structure for civil servants starting July 2020 out; scientists, lecturers get juicy pay rise

    1875 shares
    Share 750 Tweet 469

Follow us on Facebook

Facebook Twitter

Contact Information

Watchdog Uganda is a portal for solution journalism, trending news plus cutting edge commentaries in the fields of politics, security, business, tourism, entertainment, technology, agriculture, climate change, environment, public health et al. We also give preference to Ugandan community news and topical discussions. The portal also publishes community news and topical discussions.

Plot 23, Yusuf Lule Road
PO Box 7661 Kampala, Uganda
Office Line: +256 777 286 815
Email: editorial@watchdoguganda.com
To Advertise:Click here

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on Facebook

© 2022 Watchdog Uganda

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • National
    • Politics
    • World News
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Motorsport
  • Business
    • Agriculture
    • Finance
    • RealEstate
    • Technology
  • Op-Ed
  • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
    • Showbiz
    • Big Brother Naija Dairy
  • People
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Stars
    • Politicians
  • Special Report
    • Education
  • Travel
  • Video
  • Luganda

© 2022 Watchdog Uganda

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Posting....