Discover the fascinating story of Zimbabwean inventor Maxwell Chikumbutso, creator of self-powered vehicles and generators. Is he a misunderstood!
The mafia in the oil industry is more deadly, but I have been fighting battles all my life. These are the words of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote. There is a reason why anyone who proposes alternative energy ends up losing their lives, from Nikola Tesla, Eugene Malov, and Stanley Meyer, who came up with a vehicle that could run on water. Sadly, he was poisoned at a restaurant while meeting some Belgian investors.
And you know who else was poisoned? Maxwell Suani Chikumbutso, the Zimbabwean inventor behind the self-powered vehicles, appliances, and other machinery he claims run on radio waves.
Maxwell Chikumbutso was raised in Kuwadzana, a high-density suburb in the western part of the capital, Harare. He had a very tough upbringing, which led him to dropping out of school at Form 2, which is Grade 9 in other countries. His big break came at the age of 15 when he converted to Christianity, and soon afterwards, he started seeing visions.
It all happened in 1997. I was 17 years old, and I still remember vividly. It was on the 23rd of September. I was praying in the church at a corner. God visited me, and I heard a voice which said, “Thus say the Lord, I am going to use you.” I was given a scripture in the book of Isaiah 49:7 which says, “Thus say the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to the servant of rulers. Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose you.”
Maxwell started working on the Microsonic Energy Device back in 2003. Though this is his most popular invention, it is not his only invention. He developed a radio broadcasting machine which was eventually banned by the Zimbabwean government for operating illegally. He also developed a digital navigation facilitator for the aviation industry that could help planes run optimally when landing, but because he did not have an educational background, he could not secure funding for it.
Fortunately for him, the first working prototype of his Microsonic Energy Device started working in 2009 after enduring health complications. Despite Maxwell trying frantically to get funding, he could not. Eventually, his big break came when Dr Teddy De Almeida, an Angolan businessman based in South Africa, gave him $500,000 with no strings attached in 2015. Through that, he came up with his first prototypes: a self-powered car, helicopter drone, and self-powered generator. These were widely publicised.
Despite all this, Maxwell Chikumbutso was heavily criticised by people in the scientific community. He was labelled as a scammer. The argument even to this day is that his inventions defy the laws of thermodynamics. To make matters worse, Maxwell was arrested in 2018, facing six counts of armed robbery alongside five alleged accomplices, charges he denies to this day.
Despite all this, Chikumbutso’s work gained the attention of Foster Gamble in 2018. Foster Gamble, the heir of the Procter and Gamble empire and producer of the acclaimed Thrive documentary, came with a scientist, Nils Rognerud, to Zimbabwe to test out Maxwell Chikumbutso’s 500KW self-powered generator. After weeks of rigorous testing, they concluded that his 500KW generator was in fact real.
When asked where the energy was coming from, he said, “We are harnessing it straight from the natural energy that God has put on our Earth — radio frequencies.” He insisted that nothing was being transmitted nearby from a microwave tower.
Despite all this, the media was still against Maxwell Chikumbutso, and getting arrested for armed robbery did not help his cause. In a quest to get more exposure for his inventions, Maxwell travelled to the United States of America. He was based in Santa Monica. There he started developing drones.
Whilst in America, Maxwell and his business partner, Dr De Almeida, were allegedly poisoned. Eventually, Dr De Almeida succumbed to the poisoning. Maxwell later returned to Zimbabwe at the invitation of the President of Zimbabwe.
In January 2022, Maxwell Chikumbutso unveiled the world’s first self-powered TV. Once again, he received backlash from the public.
After years away from the public scene, in 2025, Maxwell resurfaced and announced the launch of his self-powered vehicle in conjunction with Kaiyi, a Chinese automaker, along with a bike and a portable generator.
Even when they tried to file a patent, they were told they were violating the natural laws of physics, so it could not be granted. As a result, they decided to protect the technology as a trade secret.
With this car, you can also use it to power your house. It acts as a moving generator. When you drive home from work, you can connect your power cable and power your house. It gives 15KW of power to power a house. The vehicle itself has a 160KW electric motor, providing a top torque of about 320 to 380 Newton metres, meaning it is fast.
Maxwell once again faced backlash from his own countrymen and internationally, despite reputable institutions validating his works.
One visitor who toured his factory and laboratory said, “I was disturbed and confused, just like most of the comments we see today on social media, which regrettably lack any information and are not factual. I have touched and experienced the phenomenal, unbelievable power that is coming out of the Microsonic Energy technology.”
It is either Maxwell Chikumbutso has run the most elaborate scam in the history of the world, or he is, in fact, a genius that people will only respect after he dies, just like Nikola Tesla.
At the time of posting this, Maxwell is ready to sell his inventions to the public. So if you are watching this in the future, how did it go? Was it a scam or was it the real deal?
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