Delta State Seeks To Blaze A Trail, Mulls Adoption Of Jet Electric Vehicles

Delta State may have taken the first step in adopting new mobility technology in resolving the challenges faced by citizens in the wake of a hike in fuel prices that has also shot up the cost of transportation.

The state governor, Sheriff Oborevwori gave this indication on Thursday while playing host to a team from Jet Systems Automobile Industry Ltd. The discussions centred around the possibility of using the company’s eco-friendly electric vehicles for mass transportation in the state.

The new administration of President Bola Tinubu had, on its inauguration, announced the total removal of subsidy on petrol in Nigeria, causing the cost of the petrol to shoot up by about 250 percent, with attendant increase in the cost of transportation in the country.

The Delta State governor, in efforts to ease the burden on citizens in the state, has hinted that his administration would consider deploying the electric vehicles because they are cheaper to maintain and more eco-friendly— with zero emissions into the environment.

The Jet Electric Vehicles were presented to the governor for inspection. The governor, after inspection and test-drive of the vehicles, noted that Electric Vehicles were the solution to the fallout of hardship brought about by the increase in price of petroleum products in the country.

He said that as a forward-thinking state, his government was considering a partnership with Jet Systems to assist transporters in the state to adopt the use of Electric Vehicles for mass transit, and alleviate the hardship being faced by the people.

The governor inspected and took a drive in two of the Electric Vehicles, the Jet Link and the Jet Mover, and commended the company, while noting the several advantages inherent the use of electric vehicles as against the fossil fuel engine vehicles.

“This is the first time I have the opportunity to drive electric vehicles 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 (E.V) 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. It will also be economical and the good thing about this is that I am putting together a team headed by the Secretary to the State Government, to understudy this and see if it is something the state can do to support the transporters and reduce cost of transportation,” he stated.

He revealed that a committee to be headed by Secretary to the State Government, Dr Kingsley Emu, would be put together to look into the economic viability and operational sustainability of electric vehicles in Nigeria and the state in particular.

Also speaking, Chairman of Jet Systems Automobile, Chidi Ajaere, said investing in electric vehicles was the way to go considering that the vehicles were eco-friendly and cheaper to manage.

He said future-thinking mobility companies were investing in electric vehicles as the cost of transportation had become so high due to rising cost of fuel and maintenance.

Ajaere said: “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 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 percent.

“The life span of the battery is about eight to ten years and the bigger vehicles (Jet Mover) 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.

“All we need is just the Federal Government building solar charging stations along the way for these vehicles when travelling a longer distance so that when the passengers come down to ease themselves like they usually do, you can plug in your car to charge for some time before continuing your journey.

“In the rainy season, the solar charging infrastructures will have batteries that would store power for these vehicles to charge on gloomy days like this.

“Those stations can also be attached to CNG powered lines to help charge vehicles during the rainy season”.

Ajaere further noted that some of the future-thinking countries and mobility companies of this world were making bold investments in EVs because of their viability and sustainability.

“We are faced with the challenge where the cost of mass transportation has become really high due to the increase in fuel prices and governments like Delta State and the federal government are already taking the initiative by investing in EV infrastructure.

“If we can deploy electric vehicle infrastructure around Nigeria, we can then get transporters and transport operators to key into EV and we can dramatically reduce the cost of transportation.

“The top 20 automakers in the world are all innovating for EVs and Delta State is making a decision to move towards where the world is moving to reduce the cost of transportation and cutting down emissions and pollutions from fuel combustion engines by just embracing EV and EV infrastructure.

“With just the FG building solar-powered infrastructure-like filling stations across highways, you can go almost anywhere across Nigeria. We need to be forward-thinking as a nation. We need to lead not just Africa but to stand very tall in the place of mobility in the world”.