A Swedish- Kenyan technological company Opibus is the first to locally assemble and design the first electronic bus in Africa.
The bus which is made by in-house engineers and local manufacturing partners has maximum torque which improves performance while enabling the driver to accelerate more responsively. Also there are no oil/filters/gaskets that need to be changed. Further more, the buses are charged compared to the use of petrol or diesel which translates to an 80% reduction in maintenance expenses.
The first electronic bus will be officially in the market mid this year, starting off with 10 buses. They will be in Nairobi Metropolitan with Opibus setting up charging points. The chargers are 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.
Opibus focuses on all-electric conversion kits for fleet vehicles such as light trucks, public transport and buses, as well as electric motorcycles and energy systems.