Ugandan made electric buses hit the road amid Covid-19
Ugandan made electric buses have now hit the road amid the coronavirus pandemic with improved health guidelines.
The buses were assembled by Kiira Motors Corporation, a local manufacturing company which has Equity Partners made up of Government of the Republic of Uganda represented by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (96%) and Makerere University (4%).
The company is now inviting Ugandans to buy the buses as they continue with production in Luwero Industries.
Some of the unique features of Kayoola Electric Bus are Wifi, USB sockets, Air Conditioner, TV, Automatic Sanitiser and PWDS special seats. The buses also use rechargable battery not diesel.
90% of the raw materials used to assemble this buses were also locally sourced. The floor of the buses were made from bamboo trees known locally as emmuli.
The battery life of the buses is up to 3,000 Charge cycles (900,000km) compared to 200,000 km of typical diesel engines.
Kiira Motors was birthed back in 2007 when a team of students and staff at Makerere University were invited to be part of an international consortium.
This was part of a Vehicle Design Summit (VDS), a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) initiative with the goal of designing and producing the Vision 200 – a 5-passenger plug-in hybrid electric vehicle targeting the Indian market.
Makerere University the only participant from Africa was responsible for the design and integration of the Low Power Electronics and Data Networking Systems. The team participated acquired exciting skills in Automotive Development.
Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, launched the Kiira EV, the first electric vehicle designed and built in Africa in 2011.
According to the Ugandan government Kiira Motors was set up to Champion Value Addition in the Domestic Automotive Industry for Job Creation and Diversification of the Ugandan Economy as a Key Growth Area in Line with Vision 2040.
Source: Africafeeds.com
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