A Swedish-Kenyan company, Opibus, has introduced the first African-designed and manufactured electric bus in Kenya with the aim of bringing clean energy to public transportation.
A monitored report by VOA said Opibus, Kenya’s first company to make electric motorcycles, plans to launch the bus commercially in a few months and bring it to markets across Africa by 2023.
As other vehicles jostle for space while belching clouds of dark smoke in the streets of Nairobi, Benjamin Maina is driving a unique bus, one that is fully electric.
‘I feel privileged driving this vehicle,’ Maina told VOA. ‘It is also very amazing when you are driving this vehicle compared to the fossil fuel vehicles, considering there is a lot of vibration on fossil fuel vehicles and also a lot of noise. But with this vehicle, it’s quite silent and very sleek.’
Public transport in Kenya and across the African continent is largely run informally, and emissions standards are rarely enforced, making the vehicles highly pollutive as Jane Akumu, a Sustainable Mobility expert at the UN Environment Programme explains.
‘If you look at the cities, the heavy-duty vehicles which are buses and trucks, that’s the bulk of the pollution,’ said Akumu. ‘So, they are a big contributor to pollution. But as I said, they are also an opportunity. Because how do we shift to cleaner modes? Because we need mass transport to be sustainable to make cities more sustainable.’
The introduction of electric buses into the African market by Opibus is aimed at remedying the situation. Albin Wilson, the Chief of Strategy and Marketing at Opibus, noted.
According to him, “this electric bus is really an important first step in the transition from fossil fuel vehicles to electric clean mobility.
“And I think we are really showing precedence being the first movers in this market with a bus that is even locally developed”, Wilson said.
Experts say Africa’s electric car market, currently in its infancy, presents a huge opportunity for investment and the creation of green jobs.