With two fully charged batteries and a bright orange helmet and vest, Brian Otunga is ready for a new working day. He rolls almost silently around the noisy Nairobi streets on his new emission-free motorcycle. The job gave him a small income, so that he could support his two young children. – Petrol prices increased almost daily. So I had to find a better solution, says Otunga to news. It is out of consideration for both the economy and the climate that driver Brian Otunga has replaced his petrol motorcycle with an electric motorcycle. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom/news / news He was one of the first to try out an electric motorcycle in the African metropolis Nairobi with over 5 million inhabitants. And many are about to follow in his footsteps. High fuel prices and the climate debate lead to change. – People know this now. They want to save both money and the environment, says Brian. Brian Otunga gets ready for a new day as a taxi driver with two fully charged batteries for his new electric motorcycle. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom/news / news Green Kenyan energy mix Brian receives most of his instructions via his mobile phone. On the day news is involved, the working day starts with transporting a cardboard box from one side to the other of the heavily trafficked city. – It’s a long trip, says Brian, who has enough power in the tank, even if the battery is not fully charged after a night with a slight power outage. It’s people like him that make the city go round. In East Africa they are called boda-boda drivers, and they are found all over the continent. And in town after town, companies are being set up that invest in electric motorcycles. In Kenya, it is extra favorable because the country largely gets its electricity from green energy sources, and special geothermal power. At the same time as Kenya is one of several African countries hit by deadly extreme weather, the traffic in the capital Nairobi smells like Oslo in the 90s. Heavy clouds of exhaust are in the cityscape, and there is a long way to go to reduce emissions from vehicles. Tax relief for replacing exhaust vehicles But the governing authorities want to do something about both the local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Most of the climate emissions in the world come from fossil fuels, and emissions are still increasing. Diesel and petrol buses still dominate traffic in Nairobi. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom/news / news Politicians in Kenya have recently given economic carrots in the form of tax breaks and subsidies to those who help replace exhaust with electricity. At the same time as the taxes for owning and driving a car have gone up, subsidies for electric vehicles have started to be introduced. Not quite unlike how it is in Norway. The consumer tax has been halved from 20 to 10 per cent for the purchase of electric vehicles. The governing authorities have a pilot program together with the UN’s environmental programme, UNEP, where the aim is to identify and solve problems that prevent the full roll-out of electric vehicles. Anyone who assembles the vehicle locally avoids an import tax of 25 per cent. In other words, it pays to produce as many parts as possible locally, and assemble the vehicle in Kenya. Subsidiaries are given to electric motorcycle companies that build charging stations, so that electricity is cheaper if you charge at a charging point than at home. The goal is for 5 percent of all new vehicles registered in Kenya to be electric by 2025, while at the same time creating new jobs and industries locally in the country. Swedish entrepreneurial company One of the companies that has invested in producing locally as much as possible is Roam, started by Swedes, but with a large proportion of local employees. The company is well underway with the production of such motorcycles as Brian uses. Some of the bicycle parts are imported from India, but the company is trying to create an increasingly local supply chain. In a large factory premises, not too far from Nairobi’s international airport, Roam assembles bike after bike on a kind of production line. The electric motorcycles are assembled locally in a factory premises on the outskirts of Nairobi. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom / news The official opening of the factory was presided over by President William Ruto in July this year. – The factory is a showcase that shows Kenya’s opportunity to become a leader in renewable transport solutions in Africa, Ruto told Business Daily. Ambitious goals The government wants to create an electric transport system with infrastructure and charging stations in all cities and along the busiest main roads, according to the government. But President Ruto has even more ambitious goals to completely stop using fossil fuels and only rely on renewable sources within a few years: – I commit myself to Kenya being 100 percent green by 2030, Ruto said in an interview with CNN during the UN climate summit in Dubai. Kenyan President William Ruto tests out Roam’s electric motorcycle at the opening of the company’s factory. Photo: VICTOR WAHOME There has been a strong increase internationally in investing in renewable energy in recent years. At the climate summit in Dubai, it was agreed that investment in renewable energy should triple by 2030 – something that is in line with recommendations from the International Energy Agency, IEA. The company Roam sees itself as part of the solution to reduce climate emissions in the African country. – Kenya experiences extreme weather such as floods that come from the use of fossil fuels, says Joan Igamba who is a communications consultant at Roam. Roam is also one of several companies that have recently launched an electric bus that is designed for use in traffic. Optimism is great. – I am sure that within ten years at least half of public transport will be cleaner and all new vehicles will be electric, says bus manager in Roam, Denis Wakaba. A new electric bus will enter the competition to replace matatu buses, which make up public transport in Nairobi. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom / news Tener more with an electric motorcycle It is no easy job to be a motorcycle taxi in Nairobi. The daily wage is not that great, but Brian earns more than he did with the petrol bike. – Before, I had to spend around NOK 50 on petrol on a busy day. With the electric motorcycle, I spend about NOK 15, says Brian. This means a lot when his daily income is mostly between NOK 150 and 200. A challenge for getting more electric vehicles on the vegan scene is the charging options, and especially outside the big cities. The Swedish entrepreneurial company Roam has set up charging stations in Nairobi that Brian uses. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom/news / news The Kenyan electricity grid can be unstable, and there is a shortage of electricity. It will therefore be difficult to get the proportion of electric vehicles to grow quickly, but there are several plans to improve the electricity grid. Diesel and petrol are still what keep the wheels turning on African roads. But in big city after big city, more and more electric vehicles are taking up space on the streets. – Electric vehicles are the future, and people should bet on it, says Wakaba. Brian is very pleased with his new motorcycle. Not just for financial reasons: – There are no emissions from this motorcycle. And there is no noise pollution either. So that’s good, says Brian.
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Earn more with environmentally friendly motorcycle taxis – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
