Electric vehicle company, Roam, has today unveiled its first electric buses in Kenya. These buses will be targeting the public transport sector in Kenya.
The buses called Roam Rapid will have a capacity of 90 passengers accommodating both seating and standing passengers. The buses have a 384-kWh battery that the company says provides a range of 360 Km on a single charge. This will be good for most operations around the city for an entire day on a single charge.
If they run out of charge, Roam says they can be fully charged in less than 2 hours through DC charging ports.
“The focus for the bus has been to design a robust vehicle with best in class carrying capacity, range and comfort to enable mass adoption of clean transport across the continent,” said Dennis Wakaba, Roam project coordinator.
Race for e-mobility adoption
Roam isn’t the first company to launch electric buses in Kenya. Earlier this year, BasiGo, another electric vehicle company, introduced its passenger electric buses in Kenya. As demand for environmentally friendly transport solutions rise, these companies want to be prepared to have the solutions for those in need.
Just recently, Roam also announced that it will be launching its electric motorcycles that interested parties will be able to buy through M-Kopa. Car and General also announced plans to introduce electric vehicles and tuk tuks in the country.
On charging, Kenya Power has announced plans to set up charging stations across the country starting in Nairobi and Nakuru. Charging is still the biggest hurdle as we do not have enough charging stations but if the existing fuel stations get into the electric vehicle charging business, they might make it easier for most people to shift to electric vehicles.
