Kayoola: Africa’s first Solar-Powered bus launched

Derived from the word Kayoola (which means mass carrier), Uganda's Kiira Motors unveiled Africa's first solar-powered electric bus earlier this month. Later, on February 16, 2016, President Yoweri Museveni took a ride to officially launch the Kayoola solar bus at Serena Hotel in Kampala.


Launching on Feb 16. Image from The Independent


Kayoola the 'mass carrier'. Image from Kiira Motors


Solar panels on top of the bus to charge the batteries.

According to the fact sheet by Kiira Motors, the 35-seater bus propulsion system is by electric motor powered by both battery pack and soar panels:

• Top speed: 100km/h
• Electric range: 80 km (50 miles)
• Range extension by solar: Approx. 12 km

Powertrain specification

Of interest in this article is the powertrain, particularly those that are related to 'solar' although you can read  here if you are interested in everything else.


Source: Kiira Motors

It is obviously short ranged (80 km), which lead you to think that this can only be suitable for use in urban areas, rather than touring from one city to another. The solar panel could, however, extend the range depending on the weather and the good thing is that re-charging can be done anywhere without worrying that grid power may not be available.


How much?

The solar bus prototype costs $140,000 (RM584,000) to produce, but it is estimated cost around $58,000 (RM242,000) after mass production and is expected to create more than 7,000 jobs either directly or indirectly by the year 2018.

That's pretty expensive to begin with, don't you think?


The Green Mechanics' two cents: 

It's encouraging that Uganda took this bold move of producing its own vehicle to showcase its version of solar-powered electric vehicle (EV). Manufacturing a vehicle that can be mass-produced and able to penetrate the saturated market is already complicated enough let alone one that is fitted with unproven fuel source. For this, they must be given credit.

Certainly Malaysia which has a per capita GDP of more than 12 times that of Uganda's can do the same:

		Malaysia	Uganda
Land area	:	329,847 km sq	241,038 km sq
Population (2015)	:	30.5 million	37 million
GDP per capita (2015)	:	US$26,600	US$2,100
Electricity -Total installed capacity	:	28.53 mil kW	0.71 mil kW
Electricity derived from:
a) Fosil	:	87.6%  (2012)	21%  (2011)
b) Hydro	:	11.6%  (2012)	59.9% (2014)
c) Other Renewable Energy	:	0.8%  (2012)	19.2% (2014)

Source: The World Factbook at Central Intelligence Agency, CIA (US) which is published online.


We don't have to take the route taken by Uganda. We already have electric bus of our own in Melaka and Selangor. A little tweaking without compromising the safety and quality of the vehicle can pretty much be done to install solar panels to charge the batteries.

Building a whole new bus from ground up may backfire as a lot of effort will be required to prove its road worthiness, and brand acceptance in the competitive the market.

Good one from Uganda, this is!

References: Kiira Motor, CNN

If you don't want to buy an Electric Car, you can choose to rent one!

Currently there are only two Electric Vehicle brands available in Malaysia - the Mitsubishi iMiEV which sells for RM136,000 and the Nissan Leaf. In fact, the Leaf is not even available for purchase yet as Nissan is keep dragging on the launch date for Malaysia.

The pricing issue must be the reason for the delay. Anyway, Cars Bikes Trucks speculates that the Leaf could soon be launched at RM150,000 price tag.


Don't buy it, rent it

In Japan, there is this program by Toyota that enables you to rent rather than buy a vehicle. And more recently, Toyota have added a new concept electric vehicle to its Harmonious Mobility Network (Hamo) car sharing project, which lets users rent them by the minute.

The electric vehicle is called i-Road and rent starts at 200 Yen (about RM6.60) for the first 10 minutes then 20 Yen for every minute after that. Renting the car for an hour would cost 1,200 Yen (US$12) or about RM40.

That reminds me of the RM3.00 for few minutes you pay for the kids to rent/ride the animal-shaped toy cars at the hyper malls.


No way. There is no chance you will get to rent this Leaf  'by the minute' in Malaysia. Image: CBT



Image grab the i-Road from the video of the expo in Japan. Not really a 'car', more like a 3-wheeled bike. Watch it here. Users get to rent this car for 1,200 Yen an hour.


The concept vehicle, the i-Road

The new concept vehicle weighs 300kg and can fit two passengers. It has dual 2kW motors that can propel the car at speeds up to 45 kilometers per hour for up to 50 kilometers on a single charge of its lithium-ion battery.

Those intending to rent it can make reservation online through smartphones. Car availability can be viewed in real time, too.


TheGreenMechanics: With price tag of electric vehicle so high and with many low to middle-income earners likely to give this a pass, it is a good idea to put up similar program in Malaysia. The big cities are the better places to start of with.

Then we, the adult, can rent and ride these expensive 'toys' like the kids playing with the toy-cars at the shopping malls.

Why not? Treat this as EV awareness program.

Nissan to make self-driving cars available by 2020

We have no idea yet how much it will cost, but Nissan is positive it is capable of making such vehicle ready in 7 years' time.


Tired of driving? Go for autonomous drive cars. Photo by Crain News Service via TireBusiness.


The Japanese automaker plans to offer commercially viable vehicles that are capable of autonomous operation without driver input.

The self-driving vehicles will be sold “at realistic prices for consumers,” the company said at a media event in Irvine, California.

Nissan said its goal is to offer autonomous cars across the model range within two vehicle generations - about 10-12 years after the projected 2020 launch.

The company said it has been researching and developing autonomous vehicles for years with such top universities as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, Oxford, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Tokyo.

It is building a dedicated test track in Japan for autonomous vehicles that will be completed by next spring.

Google, the internet search leader, launched an autonomous car program in 2010 and has built and is testing several different versions, including one based on Toyota's Prius.


Hurdles?

Yes, the technology itself, but the bigger ones are legislative and regulatory. Safety regulators in various countries will have to sign off on new rules of the road before the first autonomous car can be sold.

The company expect that the first models to go on sale will probably be confined to special highway lanes in selected areas. And getting to that point probably will require highway officials to invest in advanced road improvements, with new road-to-car communications capabilities and emergency provisions.

TheGreenMechanics: If we live to see year 2020, we maybe able to sit in such a 'driver-less' car and travel from one place to another doing all kind of stuff but driving. Talking about productivity and efficiency.


Note: I scooped this interesting piece here. You can read the complete story there.

All-electric car BMW i3 is officially unveiled

In another big step towards promoting electric vehicles, BMW joined the bandwagon with the launching of the BMW i3 in its production version simultaneously in three locations – New York, London and Beijing.

It costs €34,950 in its home country, Germany, equivalent to RM151,000 here but don't get too excited yet about the direct currency conversion. We have the tariff, duties, and other import permits that will sure jack the price up much higher.

The BMW i3 electric car is unveiled in London

Launching its BMW i3 model, the German group compared the prospects of the electric car market to the technical revolution of the mobile telephone, but declined to give any sales or production targets.

Sleek and distinguished as always

"What the mobile phone did for communication, electric mobility will do for individual mobility. The BMW i3 is more than an evolutionary step -- it is a great leap forward."
- Chief executive Norbert Reithofer, during the launching.

The series-produced model will go on sale in Europe in November to be followed in the United States, China, Japan and several other markets in the first half of 2014.


Price and Features

It will hit the German market at a price of €34,950 ($46,438) and has a range of 130 to 160 kilometres (about 80 to 100 miles).

The Munich-based company trumpeted technological features of the model, which can seat four, including a carbon fibre passenger cell to help offset the weight of the batteries and an aluminium chassis.

BMW said the global market for electric vehicles was showing positive development. "After almost 93,000 electric vehicles were registered worldwide last year, a total of 150,000 units is already forecast for the current year," a statement said.


Germany's electric vehicle policy

Germany set a target in 2008 of having one million electric cars on its roads in 2020 and said it wanted to be a pilot market in the field. But Chancellor Angela Merkel has acknowledged that the country would struggle to reach the target while insisting the goal should not be dropped.

The government offers tax incentives to electric car drivers but campaigners say much more needs to be done to encourage people to switch from petrol or diesel to electric vehicles.


TheGreenMechanics:
The i3 would be a good addition to the currently available locally - Leaf, iMiEV, and the soon to be available Chevrolet Spark.

Source: AFP

New Chevrolet Spark electric car to cost 38% less than sibling Volt

This is a welcomed piece of news for Electric Vehicle fans and tree huggers.

In a move to make electric cars more affordable to the masses, GM came out with a relatively cheap Chevrolet Spark costing as low as $19,995 or RM60,675 when converted dollar-to-dollar.

The recently launched electric car, Mitsubishi i-MiEV cost Malaysian consumers RM139,888 to own one! Chevrolet is quite aggressive in the local market and the Chevy Spark is expected to land on our shore at a later date. But a price tag of twice of those that in the US - say RM121,350 - would be ridiculously expensive.


Reuters file pic: A model sits in a new Chevrolet Spark auto-transmission during its launch in Hanoi, May 20, 2013. The Chevrolet Spark all-electric subcompact car will cost 38% less than its larger sibling, the hybrid Volt.


GM Chevy Spark electric car's price 38 percent less than sibling hybrid Volt's

DETROIT, May 23 — The Chevrolet Spark all-electric subcompact car will cost US buyers as much as 38 per cent less than what it takes to buy its larger sibling, the hybrid Volt, General Motors Co said today.

The 2014 Spark EV, which goes on sale next month in California and Oregon, will sell for as low as US$19,995 after accounting for the full federal tax credit of US$7,500, GM said. The larger Chevy Volt, which was introduced in the fall of 2010, sells for about US$32,500 after the tax credit.

“The Chevrolet Spark EV is the most efficient — and now one of the most affordable — EVs you can buy,” Chris Perry, GM’s vice-president of Chevrolet marketing, said in a statement.

GM has made rolling out cars with electrical technology — including its eAssist system that boosts fuel efficiency in gasoline-powered cars — as a central part of its global strategy.

The US automaker is aiming by 2017 to build up to 500,000 vehicles a year that include some form of electric engine power, including cars like the Spark EV, the Volt and those with eAssist.



Reference: SRN News