Following the decision by the Ogun State Government in South West Nigeria to provide electric-powered motorbikes to residents in the wake of the removal of fuel subsidy.
The Delta State Government announced it is considering investing in electric vehicles for mass transportation to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal.
The announcement was made by Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta, after inspecting and test-driving two electric vehicles presented by Ajaere Motors and Jet Motor Company on Thursday at Government House, Asaba.
Electric Transport
Governor Sheriff revealed that he is setting up a committee to be headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Kingsley Emu, to look into the economic viability and operational sustainability of electric vehicles in Nigeria, adding:
- “This is the first time I have had the opportunity to drive an electric vehicle and you can see that it’s smooth, noiseless and comfortable, and with the way the price of fuel is going up electric vehicles are better at this time because everybody is trying to move away from fuel to save cost.
- “The Electric vehicles are cheaper; the only thing is that we are still studying this model and we are coming out with our own decision very shortly, to know whether to go in that direction, especially with the present hike in petrol price.
- “Everybody is trying to go in that direction.
Economical
The Governor added that investing in electric buses would also be economical urging that the good thing about this is that He is putting together a team to understudy this and see if it is something the state can do to support transporters and reduce the cost of transportation.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Jet Motors, Chidi Ajaere, said investing in electric vehicles was the way to go considering that the vehicles were eco-friendly and cheaper to manage, adding:
- “The Federal Government is already taking the initiative of investing in electric vehicles.
- “We have an abundance of sun in Nigeria, so the idea for the Federal Government and the Delta State government is looking into building solar-powered charging infrastructure.
- “The two biggest cost drivers for transportation is the cost of maintenance and cost of fueling but with electric vehicles you eliminate the cost of maintenance and the cost of petrol thereby reducing the cost of transportation by almost 80%.
- “The life span of the battery is about eight to 10 years and the bigger vehicles can do about 300km on a full charge; that’s like moving from Lagos to Ibadan and back to Lagos or from Asaba to Warri and back to Asaba,” he said.
Electric domination
This week, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State said he would provide electric-powered motorbikes to residents in the wake of the removal of fuel subsidy.
He also noted that the electric motorbikes would be “for those who relied solely on this means of transport.”
- “While at the Republic of Benin yesterday, we had a test drive of some of the motorbikes that our administration will soon distribute to deserving transporters and members of our society, as a way of easing the financial pressure orchestrated by the increase in fuel price.”