Kenya’s first electric bus has been launched this week, the first one ever designed in Africa.
The bus was designed, developed and deployed by the Swedish-Kenyan company Opibus.
An Opibus statement released this week states that this week’s launch is the first major step in the company’s plans to launch an electric bus for the pan-African market by 2023.
The statement said, “We are proud to announce Kenya’s first-ever electric bus, completely designed and developed in Africa. Leveraging local manufacturers and global suppliers we have built a vehicle tailored for the African public transport sector.
“This is a step towards realising Opibus’s goal of electrifying Africa’s public transport system, deploying products tailored for the local use case. The bus is designed and developed in-house with local engineering talent, while at the same time utilising local manufacturing partners.”
The company claims that this bus is much cheaper than importing fully built electric buses.
Compared with diesel, its performance is also superior.
The firm said, “With the installation of a powerful motor, the bus has maximum torque which improves performance while enabling the driver to accelerate more responsively. Additionally, since the electric bus does not have a combustion engine or manual gearboxes, there are no oil/filters/gaskets that need to be changed. This translates to an 80% reduction in maintenance expenses, compared to a diesel bus.”
According to the report, taking into account the electricity charges, which are significantly lower than the ever-increasing diesel price, the total operating costs are lowered by 50%, revolutionizing public transportation in Africa.