Investors, make history in Kenya with electric buses

Recently, I was on a two-week working trip to Tokyo, Japan. The highly developed Asian nation was my first foreign country to visit in 1991. Ever since I have interacted with the Japanese for umpteenth times and appreciated their unmatched level of commitment to duty, efficiency in doing things and the value they attach to both.

I have since concluded that there are only two types of people in the world, the Japanese and everyone else! (subject for another day). My recent visit was, however, a bittersweet experience. Every time I boarded Tokyo’s electric trains that are a lot cheaper and faster, I was reminded of the clog in Nairobi’s transport artery. 

As Chairperson of Honda Kenya, I have an abiding interest in transport, more so clean, green and efficient transportation. The global Honda Corporation recently committed that as from 2022 in Europe, Honda will only produce and sell electric and hybrid cars. While this will not apply to Kenya, we have a chance of leapfrogging the West into widespread usage of electric cars. We did the same when we leapfrogged them to pioneer mobile money transfer.

Our potential to transition into electric vehicles starts with our large population of at least 50 million people, which to me translates to 50 million opportunities. These opportunities lie in the electric vehicles. Time is ripe for us to fully embrace electric buses and cars as viable business opportunities and not just toys for the rich.

A few months ago, the Treasury proposed a revolutionary policy that should have made it to front-page news but didn’t, because of our obsession with politics. In the Kenya Finance Bill 2019, Treasury proposed that duty for electric vehicles carrying more than 10 persons should be reduced to 10 per cent.

This policy proposal must be enacted and operationalised soonest possible. Beyond that, the private sector will need to rise to the challenge. The race is on to see which business firm will be the first to start operating electric buses in Kenya. If you are an investor or entrepreneur who wants to make history, this is your chance!

But what about charging points? You may ask. Did you ever hear Kenyans asking where MPesa agents will be located? Necessity being the mother of invention, the demand necessitated drastic expansion of these agents. Similarly, if there are increasingly more electric cars and buses on our roads, Kenya’s vibrant private sector will eventually stabilise electric power supply and also establish charging points across the country because it will make economic sense to do so.

Currently, 98 per cent of the two million vehicles in Kenya use petrol and diesel. If each of these vehicles use an average ten litres daily, it would mean that our vehicles consume approximately 20 million litres of fuel every single day. This translates to at least Sh2 billion spent of fuel on a daily basis. Imagine a scenario where this Sh2 billion is cut into half because of an upsurge in electric vehicles. The Sh1 billion saved per day will remain in the country and circulate locally since it won’t go towards importing fuel. That money can power our local economy and create thousands of jobs.

There will of course be teething pains that should however not deter us. Oil producers should accept that there are alternative sources of energy emerging and avoid their obvious manipulation of policy.

Solutions are consistently underway including the company Opibus Ltd now located in Kenya who are converting engines of commercial vehicles into efficient electric systems. Such establishments must receive unwavering support from the Government. Once the challenge of high cost of electric vehicles is strategically dealt with, commuters in matatus and buses will end up paying less fare as we also create electro-mechanic technicians in Kenya.

Kenyans are enterprising. Let us have faith in their ability to seize the obvious new economic opportunities in the electric vehicles sector. Deliberate government support and policies must be in place now. 

Besides, it is a fact that in five years time, electric cars will be cheaper than the conventional cars we have today. The green train is on the roll. We must therefore think green and act green.

– The writer is founder and chairperson, Green Africa Foundation. www.isaackalua.co.ke