From July 2021, Kiira Motors Corp is to begin production on 5,000 electric buses and other EVs a year, according to the CEO Paul Isaac Musasizi in an interview published by Clean Technica of Remeredzai Joseph Kuhudzai.
| THE INDEPENDENT | Production will start as soon as the production facility now under construction in Jinja is hopefully completed as scheduled in June 2021.
The factory’s focus will be on electric buses, which will be sold to private and public transport operators. The long-term aim is to help reduce air pollution in Kampala, which often tops the ranking of most polluted cities in the world, and other major cities in the country.
The idea is for Uganda to take advantage of its current excess electricity by channeling it into the transport sector. Uganda currently has total generation capacity of 1254.0MW versus demand of 723.8.
The e-buses have a carrying capacity of up to 90 people which positions it to offer great returns for the bus operator while enabling the reduction in congestion on the city roads.
The Kayoola EVS has an inclusive design fitted with state-of-the-art safety and assistive technology for people with special needs, including special seats and a ramp for easy boarding and off-boarding of people in wheelchairs.
The e-buses will be made of Ugandan steel, lithium and copper; and have bamboo floors and banana-fibre seats. The ambition is to locally manufacture 90% of the required components.
Kiira Motors has already built two Kayoola EVS buses for both piloting and validation. Each has covered over 2000km. The Kayoola EVS are fully electric, low floor city buses with a range of 300 kilometers on a full charge.
Construction of the Kiira Vehicle Plant started in February 2019 and by June this year progress stood at 50% of the startup facilities comprising of 40,000 square meter production facilities. These include 12km of access and in-plant circulation roads, 3.6 km of fence, and 1.7 km of open stormwater channel for site drainage.
The construction works undertaken by the UPDF through National Enterprise Corporation are scheduled to be completed in June 2021 subject to availability of the requisite funds.
The construction and installation of a 3.7km long 33kV medium voltage electricity power line connecting the Kiira Vehicle Plant site to the National Electricity Grid and a 5.4km long 6-inch water pipeline connecting the Kiira Vehicle Plant site to the municipal water supply have also been completed.
The opening and construction to gravel level of a 2.5km access road to the Kiira Vehicle Plant site is 50% complete. The plan is to have the initial phase completed and commissioned by end of June 2021.
Kiira Motors is a vehicle manufacturer owned by the Ugandan state represented by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation holding 96% of the initial stock and Makerere University holding 4%. It was established to champion the Development of the Domestic Automotive Value Chain for job and wealth creation. It is being assisted in its plans by Chinese manufacturer CHTC Motor Co, a subsidiary of the state-owned Sinomach Automobile Co.
KMC developed Africa’s first electric vehicle in 2011. The Kiira EV, a two-passenger prototype and the first EV to be entirely designed and built in Africa. KMC also produced Africa’s first hybrid vehicle in 2014 and Africa’s first solar electric bus in 2016.
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