By ; Bakinam Khaled 

Brightskies, an Egyptian privately owned Technology Company & Digital Transformation enabler, announced today that it has received EGP 5m fund in collaboration with Alexandria University from the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) for the ‘ZEUS’ project to design and develop electrical powertrain systems for public transportation busses locally. The funding underscores Egypt’s plans of using the largest possible percentage of local components in the automotive sector as well as focusing on reducing CO2 emissions and having more sustainable and green public transportation means, which will positively impact the overall environment and air quality.

Under this agreement, ITIDA will be funding the ‘ZEUS’ project and developing a link between Egyptian companies and Universities to support the innovation flow between the IT Industry and Academia.

The project, which comes under the umbrella of ITIDA’s Information Technology Academia collaboration (ITAC), and Egypt Makes Electronics (EME) initiatives, aims to develop electrical powertrain systems for city buses. The fund will be delivered over the project's lifetime of 18 months, during which Brightskies and Alexandria University will be submitting a demo of an electrical powertrain system that can be further developed to a market-ready product.

Amr Mahfouz, CEO of ITIDA said: “We are very excited to see an Egyptian company like Brightskies succeeding in developing a high end tech product, adding to Egypt’s growing capacity for science, and technology.

This highlights the innovation momentum and the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt which is thriving like never before. One of ITIDA’s key mandates is to bring value to Egyptian ICT Industry by fostering the collaboration between industry and academia, aiming at developing R&D based innovative products and services that put Egyptian ICT companies in a leading position in the ICT market, both locally and internationally.”

“We are honored to be working with ITIDA and Alexandria University on this project, which will bring together innovation from both the industry and academia in order to help drive Egypt towards green energy for public transportation,” said Dr. Khaled Elamrawi, Chief Executive Officer of Brightskies.

“In the past few years, the global automotive industry has witnessed a revolution and acceleration in the electric vehicles adoption and penetration. We are delighted to be at the forefront of this revolution in Egypt.”

Brightskies’ role will focus on developing an automotive-grade battery pack in compliance with the UNECE’s Sustainable Transport Division regulation for approval of vehicles with regards to the electric powertrain and ISO 26262 standard for automotive functional safety. The battery pack will be developed for a fully electric city bus with a range of up to 300KM on a single charge. The city bus top speed will be 90km/h and will accommodate up to 52 passengers.

Brightskies will also develop all the powertrain electronics and control units, which are required to interface with the battery and the electrical motor with vehicle network and sensors. For its part, Alexandria University plays a crucial role in designing the chassis for the converted bus to maintain the best vehicle dynamics, as well as converting in the mechanical engineering systems to different systems such as brakes, which will need to be compatible with the new electrical powertrain.

Dr. Abdelaziz Konsowa, President of Alexandria University, highlighted: “It is an honor for Alexandria University to be a major player in the development of this advanced industry, which will contribute to the local development of electric bus manufacturing technology and components necessary for it, in addition to contributing to putting Egypt among the list of top countries leading the future of electrical vehicles globally.

The 100% electric bus will substitute the diesel powered bus and will help in reducing air and noise pollution in urban areas especially in Greater Cairo and Alexandria.” The ‘ZEUS’ project marks a new era for the automotive industry in Egypt as it is the first time for an Egyptian company to design and develop an electrical powertrain system locally.