Are Low Emission Cars the Future for Nigeria?

Globally, the need for environmentally friendly technologies has become a crucial concern. To a large extent, carbon emissions from cars contribute to poor climate conditions. Hence, the need for low emission cars in Nigeria. The federal government of Africa’s largest economy has put measures to phase out combustion engines by 2060. One million cars are to be converted by the end of 2021. The effect of this on health and the environment made the government decide, and this is in agreement with the Paris Accord. 

In actualising this plan, some private sectors in Nigeria have started integrating low emission cars into their businesses. In a recent report, Bolt, a ride-hailing company in Nigeria, partnered with Metro Africa Express (MAX) to finance the acquisition of 10,000 low emission cars in Nigeria at the cost of $20,000 for each. According to the Chief Executive Officer of MAX, Guy-Bertrand Njoya, this is to reduce carbon emissions.

Chinedu Azodoh and Tayo Bamiduro, Co-founders of Metro Africa Xpress (MAX), in a report, said with MAX’s assembly plant, there will be motorcycles and tricycles that are smokeless and harmless to human health and the environment. According to Azodoh, a lot of research has gone into developing electric vehicles for Nigeria and other countries in Africa. 

“With advanced research and development, we have designed bespoke electric vehicles that are waterproof with increased speed, range, comfort, durability and with battery swap technology designed for Nigeria and the Africa terrain. That took us about two and a half years to achieve and now we are proud and excited about what’s coming – an advanced, state of the art version of our electric motorcycles designed for both private and commercial use in sub-Saharan Africa”, he said.

Likewise, the University of Lagos initiated the development of a low emission car in 2018 and ran tests in the second quarter of the year 2021 in Nigeria. Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Oluwole Familoni, the university is using this medium to combat carbon emissions from internal combustion engines and reduce acoustic noise.

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