“Microsonic Energy Device” from Zimbabwe is just another fake!

By MUNGAI KIHANYA

The Sunday Nation

Nairobi,

23 February 2025

Maxwell Chikumbutso from Zimbabwe claims to have invented a device that generates electricity without fuel or charging from the mains. He calls it the “Microsonic Energy Device” and he even got an opportunity to show it off to the country’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa. This invention as a fake!

Chikumbutso says that the device captures radio frequency waves in the surroundings and converts their energy into electricity using some secret technology that he has developed. This is quite simply not possible; and here is why.

It is true that there are radio frequency waves in the environment. They come from radio transmission stations (for radio, TV, telephone networks etc.), overhead electricity cables and also from outer space.

Altogether, the combined total energy intensity of these ambient radio waves is in the order of a few microwatts per square metre. In other words, to collect one watt from this radiation would require a collector covering an area of one million square metres. This is equivalent to a surface measuring 1,000m by 1,000m (1km by 1km)!

Now one watt is too small. It can’t even turn on a domestic LED light – that needs about 5W. According to Chikumbutso’s company website, the device fitted in their electric car generates 80W. To get this much power from ambient radio waves would require an area of 80 square km – that’s equivalent to 20,000 acres.

But that’s not the end of it: 80W is nowhere near enough to run a car. So, even if we were to believe that Chikumbutso can generate this much power by some magic, it is too little to drive a car. Heck, it can’t even run a regular domestic kettle that needs about 1,500W!

Think about it: the electric motor in a domestic water pressure booster pump takes about 1,100W (1.5hp); can it drive a 750kg car? Obviously not! For comparison, conventional electric cars in the market have batteries that generate at least 50,000W (50kW). So, Chikumbutso’s “Microsonic Energy Device” is under powered by a factor of about 1,000! He needs 80kW, not 80W.

As if that’s not enough, the company website states (implicitly) that 80W is equal to 10 horse power (hp). The truth is that 80W is just 0.1hp (one tenth of a horse power). And even if the device could produce 10hp (7,355W), that would still not be enough to drive a car. It would still be off the mark by a factor of 10.