When Hong Kong races towards the future and embraces innovation at every turn, you may wonder how an undergraduate student could add their unique spark to this dynamic endeavor of our city. Lee Cheuk Yin, Joe embarks on a journey in challenging the conventional norms of energy, and illuminates the path towards a sustainable future. With immense interest in electrical engineering and a vision for a greener tomorrow, he sets his sights firmly on revolutionizing the electric vehicle landscape.

Since his days in secondary school, Joe’s natural aptitude for physics and engineering has been unmistakable. Due to his great fascination with renewable energy and motor mechanics, electrical engineering is the field that perfectly suits his talents and interests. Observing the widespread adoption of solar energy in domestic settings like rooftops and rural areas, Joe entrepreneurially realized a glaring gap in solar utilization within the automotive sector. Therefore, he founded his own start-up during his university years, called SOWER Engineering Limited, with a mission to integrate solar panels with electric and hybrid vehicles.

The startup of Joe (right three) earned illustrious awards in recognition of its groundbreaking potential.

Joe (left four) was a presenter to the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, at the Vocational Education Park in Shenzhen. 

Joe’s company quickly distinguished itself from receiving the Innovation Award and Seed Fund by Dorsett Hospitability International as well as the Hong Kong Science Park Ideation Programme. His prime major project was creating the first net zero carbon STEM bus in Hong Kong in collaboration with a local secondary school. Through the Used and Retired Bus Programme, a sustainability initiative from Kowloon Motor Bus, Joe gave a second life to the double-deck bus by making it into a mobile classroom powered entirely by renewable energy. This project is truly revolutionary towards green sustainability in local transportation, and it is equally meaningful for him to achieve educational innovation, combining practical engineering skills with vocational education.

Joe and his fruit of work, the first net zero carbon STEM bus in Hong Kong.

As Joe continues to forge ahead, his story radiates the power of innovation and the spirit of enacting change in believing a better tomorrow. Joe is continually driven by the relentless pursuit of knowledge and innovation, with an ambitious goal to achieve zero carbon in Hong Kong and carbon neutrality. He is not merely engineering vehicles and systems, but he is engineering a new dawn of renewable applications, powered by the sun and steered by the next generation of environmental trailblazer!