With the paradigm shift towards the manufacturing of electrical cars in a bid saving money and protecting the planet earth from carbon emissions that are in turn depleting the ozone layer, VAYA Africa, a ride-hail mobile enterprise established by Zimbabwean billionaire, Strive Masiyiwa, has launched an electric taxi service and charging network in the Southern African country.
The company has been able to acquire a fleet of Nissan Leaf EVs, and developed its own solar-powered charging stations, with plans to expand across Africa, including Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and Zambia, TechCrunch reported.
“We are excited to launch the ‘VAYA Electric’ vehicle today as we start our journey of deploying innovative ways of harnessing clean, renewable energy to provide safe and convenient transportation services to the public on the African continent,” said Dorothy Zimuto, the CEO of Vaya Mobility in Harare last week.
“Our e-vehicle fleet will include passenger vehicles, motorbikes, vans, buses and dump trucks, all utilizing our VAYA hail riding platform. We believe this dovetails well with our vision of driving inclusive technology growth across Africa,” Zimuto said.
Zimbabwean business mogul, Masiyiwa is the founder and chair of the Econet Group, a Zimbabwe-listed mobile phone company. He also owns just over half of private company Liquid Telecom, which provides fiber optic and satellite services to telecommunication firms across Africa.
VAYA, a subsidiary of his Econet Grouo, is a Mauritius registered company with a mission to transport people and goods (conveniently, affordably, reliably, and safely) from one point to another across Africa, by unlocking adjacent revenue-generating opportunities within the transportation sector.
The VAYA Electric ride-hail taxi network will be part of VAYA Africa’s VAYA Premium service, a passenger service readily available on the VAYA Africa application that provides a range of VAYA services including logistics services.
To enjoy a ride on VAYA Electric, one must download the VAYA Africa App and look for the Mobility Option. “They select the Electric Vehicle and this prompts them to choose the pickup and destination addresses, before requesting a ride,” said Zimuto.
“The benefits of the use of e-vehicles will be less frequent services and fewer scheduled vehicle maintenance check-ins than ordinary combustion engines. They will require minimal scheduled maintenance for their electrical systems, such as the battery and electrical motors. Other parts such as brakes also last longer because of their regenerative braking systems, where the battery is charged when breaking.”
As the company begins the electric ride-hail taxi network, it said e-vehicles would be charged on solar or on grid-tied electric charging stations across the country.
“Our electric vehicles will be charged on charging stations deployed across the country, built by Ugesi Energy, a subsidiary of Econet Global, to offer e-vehicle owners charging options just about anywhere around the country,” said Zimuto.
Having the fleet of Nissan Leaf cars on its charging network, the cost to top up will be around $5 for a range of 150 to 200 kilometers, according to Econet Group’s Oswald Jumira.
“It’s the driver who benefits. They take more money home. And that also means we can reduce the tariff for ride-hailing companies to make it more affordable for people,” Jumira told TechCrunch.
It is apparent that the Africa continent is at the fast pace of urbanization, and there is a need contain the increasing population with the available social infrastructures on ground. Hence, fuel availability and consumption might seemingly pose difficulty in the economics of fuel demand, supply, and price by putting pollutions sprawling from it into consideration.
In the foregoing, the level technological advancements in Africa have apposition the continent well with the global future of technology.
However, it is very important to drastically reduce fuel dependence for easier commuting of people.
It is undoubtably that electric vehicles would have a promising merit could on African environments and economies. So far, a few African countries have taken giant stride of manufacturing their own electric vehicles with countries like Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana.
