Move over Tesla, Opibus has a better way to get electric vehicles on African roads

The East Africa Business Podcast: African Start ups | Investing | Entrepreneurship | Interviews

We've got a very interesting interview this week, one that brings together using modern technology with a compelling market need.
It's all about electric vehicles.
Now, you've probably heard about Tesla and some other companies building cars that don't run on petrol.
It turns out that, for now at least, these vehicles don't work in the East Africa context.
Opibus is a Swedish company founded by a group of engineers looking at how to get more electric cars on the road.
One route is the Tesla approach of building an electric car from scratch.
The approach of Opibus is to take existing vehicles, rip out the petrol engine, and put in an electric engine instead.
What that leaves you with is a much quicker and more flexible way to get electric cars being driven in different conditions.
Interestingly, despite being a Swedish company, other than a few prototypes the company's operations have been almost entirely in Kenya.
Several factors, such as the presence of lions and elephants, have made it the ideal place for the company to start.
Mikael, the head of the commercial side of the business, and I discuss this, and all manner of things in this episode which I hope will leave you feeling positive on the role and room for innovation in the region.
READ MORE AT: https://theeastafricabusinesspodcast.com/2019/08/22/move-over-tesla,-opibus-has-a-better-way-to-get-electric-vehicles-on-african-roads,-with-mikael-gange/