Electric Vehicles (EV) reduce the number of engine parts by 70%, there by cut maintenance costs over the internal combustion engines, it’s counterpart.
This was disclosed by Oluwemimo Joseph, Strategy & Projects Head and Chief Financial Officer of JET Motor Company, a Nigerian automaker, in an exclusive interview with Nairametrics.
According to him, EV is functional and aesthetically appealing, great user experience; personalised entertainment system, premium quality and reinforced suspension that makes it perfect for African roads.
What JET Motors is saying
On the benefit over the conventional engines, Wemimo said, “EV reduces the number of engine parts by almost 70% thereby cutting maintenance costs. Operational costs also dropped significantly, so worry over fluctuation in the prices of fuel is out of it.
“If you look at the price of fueling a vehicle for 250km you will see that using an EV will give you a lower cost. For example, looking at the current billing charges from electric companies you will see that you can charge the EV to full charge with N6,000, which is about 2 hours while fueling a vehicle now in Nigeria for 250km will cost between N10, 000 – N15, 000.”
On the hindrances of full adoption of EV in Nigeria, Rupani Sanjay, JET Motor Company’s Director of Sales and Marketing, explained that state of infrastructure like bad roads is a major concern of the company.
According to him, the vehicles needs to be charged for 2 hours to travel 250 kilometres, which will last for two days, and that means if they are stocked in traffic due to bad road the purpose is defeated
He said, “EVs are durable and designed for Nigerian roads but the nation’s roads needs to be fixed so that the vehicles can travel across the nation. For now, our brands only travel within Lagos due to this challenge.
“In a bid to preserve the environment, the world is making a gradual shift from combustion engines to electric vehicles. While the rest of the world is progressively phasing out combustion engine vehicles, Nigeria still depends heavily on fossil fuels. So, Jet Motor has seen the need to prepare the country and the continent for the future of mobility.”
He attributed the overflow of demand to the focus on versatility, durability and adaptability, all of which have propelled the JET brand and its flagship vehicle ahead of long-standing rivals behind them.
Back story
Founded in 2018 by Chidi Ajaere, JET Motor Company builds vehicles for the Nigerian and African environment. The company’s EV is the first locally made fully electric vehicle to run on the Nigerian road.
The company’s main aim was to go into the production of electric vehicles from the start. After about 3 years of research, testing and iterative development, the company was finally able to achieve its objective with JET EV.