BILITI’s 3-wheeled electric delivery vans heading to the continent that needs them most
BILITI Electric has teamed up with e-commerce company JUMIA to deploy its three-wheeled electric vans for parcel delivery.
California-based commercial electric vehicle maker BILITI Electric and pan-African e-commerce giant JUMIA recently inked a partnership that will see these electric three-wheelers roll out first in Kenya.
There the electric tuk-tuks will be integrated into JUMIA’s existing fleet of delivery vehicles.
While we often see flashy new electric vehicles launching in the US or Europe, many areas of the world that often rely on smaller (and fewer-wheeled) vehicles are forced to play second fiddle.
In Africa, electrification has often leap-frogged traditional four-wheeled cars and trucks, instead targeting some of the most beneficial vehicles: two- and three-wheelers.
In this case, BILITI’s electric trikes will prove to be potent tools in helping JUMIA reduce the emissions of its delivery fleet.
Kenya is also uniquely positioned to help kickstart this type of electric vehicle adoption. In 2020, over 90% of the electricity used in the country was generated from renewable sources such as hydropower, geothermal, solar PV and wind. A year earlier, Kenya also reduced the import duty for fully electric vehicles followed by releasing a comprehensive strategy to increase the adoption of EVs.
As CEO of JUMIA Kenya Juan Seco explained:
“Leveraging technology to improve everyday lives in Africa is the first pillar of JUMIA’s sustainability strategy. We are committed to building a supply chain that will minimize the environmental impact of our operations. The introduction of these EVs to our last-mile delivery fleet of 3000+ vans is an integral milestone in our journey towards realizing our ESG objectives.”
The news comes after the successful completion of a pilot program by JUMIA, which resulted in the larger purchase of more BILITI Electric delivery vans.
And as BILITI Electric’s co-founder and co-CEO Rahul Gayam continued, it’s about saving costs as much as saving on emissions:
“We are thrilled about this partnership as JUMIA is a growing entity on its path to profitability. Last mile delivery costs account for 53% of the total cost of shipping. EVs help save on major costs compared to any internal combustion engine vehicle.”
The vehicles in question, BILITI Electric Taskman commercial delivery vans, are designed with large swappable battery packs.
They offer a range of 100 km (62 miles) per charge, and then the battery can be swapped out at a depot in less than a minute for a freshly charged battery.
The vehicles travel at speeds of 50 km/h (31 mph) and can carry large payloads of up to 500 kg (1,100 pounds).
Across BILITI’s entire production, the Taskman has completed over 35 million kilometers (22 million miles) and delivered over 24 million shipments around the globe.
The vehicles are currently being used by large companies such as Amazon, Walmart, BigBasket, Zomato, JioMart, Wasoko, and others. They’re currently in use in over 15 countries including the US, France, the UK, Portugual, Germany, Japan, Uganda, Kenya, Dubai, and India.
Miami, Florida residents may have even seen some blue BILITI Electric Taskmans rolling around with The Rounds sustainable home-goods delivery service after getting their US debut at last year’s LA Auto Show.
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State-owned power company China Three Gorges Renewables Group will build an 8 GW solar farm as part of a nearly $11 billion integrated energy project.
To put the sheer size of the 8 GW solar farm in perspective, the three largest solar farms in the world by capacity are China’s Ningxia Tenggeli and Golmud Wutumeiren solar farms, with a capacity of 3 MW each, and a 3.5-GW solar farm outside Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital.
In addition to the massive solar farm, the $10.99 billion project will also consist of 4 GW of wind, 5 GWh of energy storage capacity, 200 MW of solar thermal, and (disappointingly) 4 GW of coal-fired power. It will be sited in Ordos, in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region, the Shanghai-listed company said in a stock filing.
China Three Gorges says that the enormous integrated energy site’s power will be dispatched to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster in northern China via an ultra-high voltage power transmission line.
The project will break ground in September and is expected to come online by June 2027.
China Three Gorges Renewables will take a 56% stake, and Inner Mongolia Energy Group will control 44%.
Read more: In a world first, China installs an 18 MW offshore wind turbine
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Environment
Hispano Suiza will do a hill climb and show off its new 1,114 hp Carmen Sagrera at Goodwood
Boutique electric hypercar developer Hispano Suiza announced it would return to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this month to showcase two of its latest vehicles. One on display will be its newest model, the Carmen Sagrera, which packs four motors that combine for 1,114 horsepower.
Hispano Suiza is a boutique automaker in Spain with well over a century of experience. Founded in 1904, the brand established a prominent reputation by producing luxury cars, aircraft engines, trucks, and weapons throughout the early to mid-1900s.
The brand has been revived in recent years with a keen focus on all-electric hypercars that deliver one-of-a-kind performance. Hispano Suiza’s venture into bespoke BEVs began in 2019 with the debut of the Carmen – a truly unique model of which only 24 examples were assembled, and no two are exactly alike.
As an encore, Hispano Suiza launched the even more exclusive Carmen Boulogne. Only five were built, and one was delivered to a customer in the US in 2023. It currently sits as one of the most expensive BEVs on the planet.
To complete the trifecta, Hispano Suiza teased a third hypercar called the Carmen Sagrera this past February as a driveable nod to its 120-year history in automotive design.
We only caught a glimpse of its massive spoiler at the time but got the full picture in June when the Spanish automaker officially debuted it to the public in Barcelona. Later this month, Hispano Suiza intends to debut the Carmen Sagrera in the UK for the first time during the annual Goodwood Festival of speed.
It is there that it also intends to do a famous hill climb in another one of its all-electric hypercars.
Hispano Suiza to compete (and show off) at Goodwood
According to news from Hispano Suiza today, it will return to the Goodwood Festival of Speed and bring along not one but two all-electric hypercars. The first will be the previously mentioned Carmen Sagrera, which will be presented to the media and authorities in the UK for the first time, including The Duke of Richmond, who founded the annual Goodwood event.
The new all-electric hypercar, piloted by former Formula 1 driver Luis Pérez-Sala, will pull out onto the stage of Hispano Suiza’s dedicated stand. The public will be able to see it up close and take advantage of a pre-sale of Hispano Suiza’s new Capsule Collection of branded merchandise.
Those hoping to see the Carmen Sagrera in action as Goodwood may be disappointed, as it will only be on display. However, the automaker shared that it intends to do a hill climb with Carmen Boulogne, which is a nice consolation.
This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed will occur July 11-14. If you’re there, be sure to check out the new Carmen Sagrera in person and report back.
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