SUN POWERED TRANSPORT

Innovative ideas are needed to tackle pressing local and global challenges. Namibian social enterprise Ebikes4Africa is already implementing its own in Windhoek.

Ebikes4Africa was started in 2015 by Marita and Bernhard Walther with the aim of bringing e-bikes and e-mobility to Namibia and eventually the rest of Africa.

An e-bike, or electric bicycle, is a bicycle motorised by an integrated electric motor which assists propulsion. This means you don’t need to be fit or exert as much energy as when pedalling a normal bicycle. Other advantages are that it costs far less than a car or taxi, requires no drivers licence, is much faster in traffic and you can ride it almost anywhere.

Bernhard, an industrial engineer, is in charge of the product design and development. He explains that Windhoek, like places across Africa, struggles with transport. “Transport is expensive and people pay up to 50% of their disposable income for mobility needs. We therefore started thinking about more efficient and affordable ways of transport and getting people to work,” he says. Initially, the only e-bikes they could find were in neighbouring South Africa. However, those bikes were not only expensive but also models not suitable for day-to-day commuting in Namibia’s conditions. After speaking to suppliers and framemakers the Walthers started designing their own bikes and presented the first Namibian designed e-bikes in 2015.

Apart from producing and selling, Ebikes4Africa also rents out the motorised bikes. “Our main aim is to make e-bikes affordable for the commuter,” Bernhard says.

Another and very important aspect of Ebikes4Africa’s model is that the bikes’ batteries are charged with solar panels, which apart from being free of emissions and noise, also makes the e-bikes 100% carbon neutral. The company has a charging station at its workshop that allows commuters to swap a depleted battery for a charged one as they ride to work in the morning. Swapped batteries are charged again during the day using solar generated electricity. This way commuters don’t have to wait for their battery to charge.

The Li-ion batteries also have the advantage of serving as a power bank. If people do not have electricity at home, they can charge cell phones or power lights and other small appliances. Additionally, Ebikes4Africa started a delivery service where clients can get everything from meals, packages, documents, groceries to medicine delivered straight to their front door.

Ebikes4Africa’s office administrator, Gabriela Okamaru, sums up the dream of the company in her own words: “It’s more than just selling or renting e-bikes, it’s the positive change we want to bring to the community. My dream for Ebikes4Africa is to see the concept adapted by other African countries, whether in the form of introducing e-bikes for transport or for delivery services, and to make sure people find different means to use the e-bikes for a greater purpose. This is only the beginning and we are getting to higher places as we go.”