Zetech University’s Prof. Geoffrey Gitau Kamau displays his ingenious innovation, the Eco-Mobilus, during an interview with the Associated Press (AP) at Zetech Ruiru Campus.
It is a retrofitted electric motorcycle powered by 4 battery packs from old laptop cells and a hub motor. The E-Mobilus takes 2.5 hours to fully charge and saves him 80% on fuel cost daily, rides 120km on a single charge and produces zero sound and CO2 emission.
As a consequence of the prevalent high cost of fuel, Prof. Gitau pondered and cracked his knuckles on how best to modify the available materials to produce a fuel efficient and environmentally sustainable transport alternative.
He thus put his technical knowledge into use and bought an abandoned motorcycle chassis, removed the petrol engine and replaced it with a motor and disposed laptop battery cells. He was motivated by the large amounts of e-waste that could be recycled and the huge potential for expansion and scalability in Kenya.
The price range for a conversion ranges from USD1000 to 3000.This is less than the cost of importing electric vehicles. The biggest challenge is the lack of a standard retrofitting model due to the varying specifications of different motorcycles.
He is looking to manage a battery assembly doe two and three wheelers and hopes the government will embrace e-mobility and offer subsidies to support startups and encourage investment in such ventures.