Rising global oil prices and pollution has led to the creation of solar battery-powered buses by Nigerian entrepreneur Mustapha Gajibo.
This is a new feat for Mustapha Gajibo, the Managing Director of Phoenix Renewables, who produced the first ever electric vehicle in Nigeria in 2018.
Up until now, he has been converting petrol mini-buses into electric vehicles at his workshop.
“We went into the design and building of electric buses. We first started by converting models. We get petrol powered vehicles at Semi Knock Downs and bring them in, assemble them, feed them with electric motors, lithium batteries to make it fully electric,†he said.
Mustapha Gajibo noted that in early 2021, the first prototype, a mini bus, could cover a distance of up to 100 and 150km on one charge.
After testing the converted modules of vehicles, he realized that the efficiency of the automobiles could be increased if they were assembled and designed by Phoenix Renewables.
“Petrol powered vehicles were not designed to be powered using electric motors and batteries. The weight and other things were not put into consideration when building these vehicles,†he explained.
The level 300-drop out from the University of Maiduguri noted that as a company driven by technology and innovation, and with a very good research and development team, “we sat down and came up with a design and started building these vehicles fully from scratch.â€
Mustapha Gajibo then built his first ever solar battery-powered bus, a 12-seater bus which can cover a distance up 200 km on one charge.
The vehicle comprises; an electric motor which drives the automobile, a battery (the storage system) that powers the electric motor, a motor controller (it controls the flow of the current in the electric motors), wire, retrofitting of screens, cooling system, which are locally designed.
Meanwhile, Phoenix Renewables has developed a solar powered charging station to charge the batteries.
Source: The Independent Ghana