The Kenyan electrical motorbike firm Ecobodaa will quickly launch its subsequent technology electrical motorbike, the Umeme 3000. Umeme is Swahili for electrical energy. Ecobodaa began operations in 2020 after founder Kimosop Chepkoit, who had earlier used his financial savings to begin an ICE motorbike leasing agency in Nairobi, grew to become fascinated with electrical bikes. He then began to ask round to get some insights on how the market would reply to electrical bikes. Using knowledge acquired from his fleet of over 75 ICE bikes, he then based Ecobodaa and began engaged on an electrical motorbike for the native market.
Once Ecobodaa had discovered an appropriate electrical motorbike, a pilot program was launched in some components of Nairobi to realize some suggestions on the efficiency, in addition to priceless insights from key stakeholders within the Kenyan motorbike taxi business popularly often called the boda boda business. Ecobodaa CEO Kimosop Chepkoit says the pilot program confirmed that the corporate has been in a position to save riders 36% on each day gasoline spend, over 75% on repairs, and 90% on servicing over a interval of three months. These are vital financial savings for boda boda riders. Lowering their working prices will assist riders construct some financial savings.
Valuable suggestions from motorbike riders has helped Ecobodaa improve its motorbike to be higher suited to the African use case, the place bikes are primarily for industrial use, resembling ferrying passengers and items. This means overloading and lengthy hours of utilization. Most Asian-built electrical bikes will not be constructed for such intense utilization; they’re principally for personal use. Here is a abstract of the brand new Umeme 3000 electrical motorbike’s specs:
Battery
Rating: 3.24 kWh
Charge time: Charging time: 4.5 hrs (200-240V AC)
Chemistry: Lithium-ion NMC excessive grade cells
Cycles: 1000 at 100% SoC, 1500 at 80% SoC (4 yrs of each day use)
Swappable: Yes, the Umeme 3000 has slots for two x 3.24 kWh battery packs
Range: 80 km (Avg. velocity of 55kph with passenger — 90kg), Dual battery vary: 160km
Battery pack weight: 20kg per pack
Battery administration programs additionally incorporate PAYGO performance. The battery can solely be used upon buy of tokens in addition to actual-time monitoring of battery well being via IoT.
Motor
Rating: 3 kW mid-drive motor (with chain)
Ingress Protection: IP67 Waterproof
Operating Temperature: Up to 150 levels Celsius
Efficiency: 92% effectivity
General specs
Top Speed: 120kph (programmable as much as 150kph)
Acceleration: 90kph in 5 seconds (programmable)
*Programmable Speed Settings to swimsuit utilization state of affairs
Front Wheels: 1.6×17″ Aluminum alloy wheels
Front Tires: 2.75×17″ 40% rubber tires
Rear Wheels: 1.85×17″ Aluminum alloy wheels
Rear Tires: 3.00×17″ 40% rubber tires
Brakes: Front and Rear hydraulic disc brakes
Designed in Kenya, the Umeme 3000 is assembled in Nairobi from a mixture of native and imported parts. “So far we are only sourcing about 20% of the parts locally, but as we build capacity and find suitable partners, we hope to increase this to over 50% within 2 years” says Kimosop. “Our iteration from the previous version was basically informed from the feedback and surveys we conducted on 500 riders. We sought to understand why they loved the 150cc ICE motorcycles so much. The answers lay in 5 things; availability of spares, performance in terms of torque, aesthetics, cost of servicing, and durability. We then modeled our bike to be compatible with most of the locally available spares, improved on performance, and aesthetics.”
It’s actually good to see native Kenyan firms resembling Ecobodaa shifting from pilots to industrial roll-outs. The Kenyan motorbike taxi business is a large market that’s at the moment operating on tens of millions of polluting fossil bikes. A research by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC, now known as the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, or EPRA) on the Global Fuel Economy Initiative Study in Kenya (GFEI), cites that emissions from bikes of lower than 150 cc are about 46.5 g/km of CO2. The common annual distance lined by bikes is round 17,800 km. With over 2 million bikes on the street and rising exponentially, it’s crucial that the transition to electrical mobility is accelerated.
The ultimate pricing of the Umeme 3000 and the battery rental/swapping prices are to be introduced quickly.
All photos by Remeredzai
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