Our story

Everywhere in the world, energy generation and consumption are becoming increasingly challenging. As international conflicts increase, infrastructure maintenance gets neglected, the effects of global warning, etc. the generation and distribution of energy is becoming unaffordable. Loadshedding in Southern Africa is a prime example of infrastructure maintenance and planning neglections. As this seemingly unresolvable challenge became a day-to-day struggle for businesses and households in Southern Africa, one young South African entrepreneur saw the solution that will change the landscape of undistributed instantaneous energy.

By looking at his own car, he realized that his 8-year-old car produces 100KWh. His household only needs 10% of that power. He also realized that the future of vehicles is becoming greener. He then came up with a brilliant concept that will harness the energy from any vehicle – now and in future.

As a qualified industrial engineer, he immediately started to draw up basic designs of possible solutions and engaged the mechanical engineering department of the University of Pretoria. It was not long before a patent and a design was put forward to a patent’s attorney. The patent was lodged by Smit and Van Wyk Patents Attorneys on 19 June 2023.

With the help of RDL projects in Pretoria West, the first prototype was built. The prototype was tested in his house using his 8-year-old car in December 2023, and the results were perfect. The concept worked and the Carnator was born.

During Christiaan’s journey, the following institutions and people assisted tremendously with the success of this project so far:

• Smit Van Wyk Patents Attorneys – Thank you Wessel, Niel and Niel for all the patent advise. I learned a lot and really appreciate it. Thank you Sharon for registering the trademark.

• University of Pretoria Mechanical Engineering – Thank you Dr. Carl Becker and Alewyn Grove. Your input is greatly appreciated, and hopefully we can work together in future to optimize the Carnator.

• RDL Projects and team – Thank you oom Stef, Wian, Jose, Rudi, Johan, Anton, Andrew, Thys and Monica for your hard work and patience with me. And thank you for the late nights and weekends. With a special mention to Rudi. He can really claim that he was there when it started, and when it worked. Rudi, I will never forget your hard and neat work – Thank you!

• Unique Motorsport – Clement, thank you for testing the cars on your dyno machine.

• To the best draughtsman in the world – Thank you Donavan! The drawings look tremendous.

• New Machine Films – Thank you Jaco, Wimpie, Will, Leon and the rest of the team that made the investors advertisement looking so professional.

• Vert Energy – Martin, thank you for your input and patience with me. I’m sure we are going to work very closely in future.

• Christo Mclaren – You are a very talented engineer and designer.

• Kapela Bearings – Cecile, Junior and the team, thank you for all the advise on finding the right bearings and telling us how to use them optimally.

• The website – Tara, thank you for a beautiful website, and Andrew, thank you for proofreading it.

• Shem Compion – thank you for the beautiful photos for the website and to many more tennis matches.

• AOS – Corne and Monique, thank you for setting up the business entities. I’m looking forward to working with you and the team.

• BenneckeThom Incorporated – Jaco, thank you for setting up all the legal documents and contracts. I hope we never have to use them.

• My family – I will not be able to do this without the full support of my loving wife, Sulize, and our two beautiful children, Christiaan and Lea.