Derek Automotive visits Makersmiths to discuss electrification of vehicular fleets

By Valerie Cury

Seven years ago, Mayor Kwasi Fraser successfully led an initiative to open a makerspace in the Town of Purcellville. As a result, a dilapidated portion of an unused maintenance facility and a decommissioned treatment plant were transformed into a community manufacturing and robotic workshop.  

During COVID-19, over 100 desks for at-home students and hundreds of face masks for first responders were manufactured at the Purcellville makerspace, which is owned and managed by Makersmiths. Makersmiths is located at 785 S 20th Street in Purcellville.

Today, members learn and use 3D printers, CNC machines, plasma cutters, band saws, welding equipment, pottery and blacksmith tools, and other manufacturing equipment.

On Monday Nov. 21, Derek Automotive visited the makerspace in Purcellville to discuss its patented solution for transforming municipal vehicular fleets from combustion engines to electric.  

Derek Bailey, the CEO of Derek Automotive Technologies Inc. with a corporate center in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, said that with over 300 million combustion engine vehicles in the United States, the goals for net zero will not be achieved by just replacing all those vehicles.

It will also involve replacing the combustion engine and keeping the body of the vehicle as a solution. These self-charging vehicles rely on both new and used vehicles – and it doesn’t stop at vehicles. It includes tractors, too. 

Mayor Fraser stated that with the national and global push for electrification of vehicles and decarbonization of industries, municipal vehicle fleets are prime candidates for the transformation.  

According to Loudoun County, five electric school buses are planned for Purcellville.

Mayor Fraser believes the Purcellville Makersmiths makerspace can play a significant role in demonstrating and piloting technologies such as those from Derek Automotive, as well as training and developing a pipeline of employees to advance electrification of vehicular fleets. 

“I am looking at two ways this may benefit our local economy,” Fraser said. “Those are the creation of ‘green collar’ jobs, and reduction of expenses. We can take a vehicle or two through the transformation process to test it.”