Opibus has introduced an African-designed all-electric bus to the Kenyan market.

Opibus is a Swedish-Kenyan technology company that designs, develops and deploys electric vehicles (EVs) tailored for the African continent.

The company says the launch of the electric bus is the first major step in its 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.

It is also an important step towards realising Opibus’ goal of electrifying Africa’s public transport system by deploying products tailored for local use.

The bus was designed and developed in-house with local engineering talent, while at the same time using local manufacturing partners, explains the company.

The key to the technology is the Opibus proprietary EV platform, which is modular and can act as a platform for several types of vehicles.

“This enables the creation of a bus that is suitable for African use, in its reliability, durability and price point. This also means that local and global contract manufacturers can be used to create a globally competitive product, with a rapid scale-up.”

This bus will come in at a significantly lower cost than importing fully built electric buses, promises Opibus.

“It will also have superior performance, compared [with] 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 have to be changed. “This translates to an 80% reduction in maintenance expenses, compared [with] a diesel bus.”

Taking into account electricity charges, which are also significantly lower than the ever-increasing diesel price, total operating expenses are lowered by 50%, a fact which should revolutionise the public transport sector in Africa, notes Opibus.

“This first electric bus is set to be launched commercially mid this year,” says Opibus public transport project coordinator Dennis Wakaba.

“Following this, the platform will be tested at scale with the commercial deployment of ten buses during the second half of 2022.

The deployment of the buses will initially be in peri-urban areas around the Nairobi metropolitan area.

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 should be fully charged within an hour.

Opibus was founded in 2017 and has nearly 100 employees.