*Opibus says this is the first ever all-electric bus of its kind in Africa, tailored for the African market
*Opibus is working towards mass production of the bus for the pan-African market by the end of 2023
Swedish-Kenyan technology company, Opibus has introduced the first all-electric bus in the East African country of Kenya.
Founded in 2017, the technology company which designs, develops and deploys electric vehicles tailored for the African continent recently announced the launch of the electric bus which it says reduce more than 60% of operating costs for users of motorcycles/buses.
According to the company, the bus is the first all-electric bus and first African designed electric bus ever. It says this is the first major step in the company’s vision to provide a locally designed and developed electric bus that can be mass-produced for the pan-African market, by the end of 2023.
This is a step towards realizing Opibus 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 utilizing local manufacturing partners.
It has already recorded some milestones as the first African electric motorcycles and the biggest fundraiser for electric mobility in Sub-Saharan Africa and gained traction with 170 vehicles already deployed.
The key to the technology is the Opibus proprietary electric vehicle platform, which it says is modular and can be the foundation for several types of vehicles. This enables the creation of a bus that is suitable for the African use case, in its reliability, durability and price point. This also means local and global contract manufactures can be used to create a globally competitive product, with a rapid scale-up.
The company says the bus will be significantly lower in cost than importing fully built electric buses. However, it also has superior performance compared to its diesel counterpart. 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. Taking into account the electricity charges which are also significantly lower than the ever-increasing diesel price, the total operating expenses are lowered by 50% and will revolutionize the public transport sector in Africa.
“This first electric bus is set to be launched commercially mid this year. Following this, the platform will be tested at scale in commercial deployment of 10 buses during the second half of 2022. In doing so, we ensure that we gather valuable feedback to continue the development of the product for an optimized market fit. It feels great to be the first movers in this very exciting space” – Dennis Wakaba, Project coordinator – Public Transport
The deployment of the buses will initially be in peri-urban areas around Nairobi Metropolitan, paired with a business model that enables operators to save from day one. Along with the bus deployment, several charging points will be installed from Opibus’ already existing range of products. These chargers will be a mix of AC (slow) and DC (fast) chargers, using the fast charger, the electric bus will be fully charged within an hour enabling seamless operations.
