In our January 24 issue, we asked why the Nation was writing one story for three months about imminent electric buses on Kenyan roads without asking important questions. For example, if the notion was even viable.
Maybe somebody listened. The Twin Towers on Nairobi’s Kimathi Street last week did a story that answered questions about the technical feasibility of electric public service vehicles.
In a story titled, “BasiGo launches Sh5 million electric bus targeting PSV operators,” the Daily Nation’s sister paper, Business Daily, clearly dug deeper.
The story answered questions like, how would the buses get powered? How far can they go on a full charge? Does Kenya have enough electricity to power them? What will it cost to power-charge a bus? Where exactly will the buses get the juice? Is a pilot run planned, on which routes can people catch one?
The pioneer 25-seater bus has a 250-kilometre range with a recharging period of less than four hours, the story by Kevin Rotich said.
Owners will pay Sh20 per kilometre to lease the battery, get nightly charging at a BasiGo depot and cover service and maintenance costs, readers were informed.
More importantly, readers learned that pilot runs by City Hoppa and East Shuttle are imminent in Nairobi. That City Hoppa will ply the city centre to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport route, while East Shuttle, like its name, will do Eastlands routes.
Further, the story checked with the utility company, Kenya Power, about the viability of powering the buses long term.
To his credit, the reporter got an authoritative quote from Kenya Power Acting CEO, Rosemary Oduor, who meaningfully said that the utility will help identify suitable charging stations, as well as requisite geo-mapping software to enable drivers locate the nearest charging station.
To add to the story’s credibility, NTV ran a report that further addressed the biggest factor in technical feasibility: how to power the buses.
The TV story on March 10 said that Kenya Power, which has been struggling under billions of shillings in losses, is now banking on the prospect of electric buses to grow sales.
That story gave specifics: that Kenya produces 2,991 megawatts of electricity. And that at night less than half of this power, 1,200 megawatts, lies idle. In other words, the country has surplus electricity to power the buses – at least at night.
Now, not to spoil the party, but shouldn’t somebody have asked how much power the buses need, and how much of it will be available in the day, when people are actually awake to get on a bus?
