bukaya e-bike taxi technical test report · in the remote areas of africa, where there is no fuel...

EURIST e.V. Weidenbaumsweg 13, 21029 Hamburg, Tel.+49(0)40 53278740

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Bukaya E-Bike Taxi Technical Test Report

Project launch: 01.09.2017

Short Introduction to Project Partners

EURIST - Overall Project Coordination

The European Institute for Sustainable Transport (EURIST) is an NGO based

in Hamburg, Germany promoting policies that improve the environmental,

social and economic sustainability of transport and mobility around the world. Our work focuses on the rela-

tion between transport and CO2 emission reduction, transport and the Millennium Development Goals, Pov-

erty Alleviation, Environmental Protection, Road Safety and Freight.

FABIO - Onsite Project Coordination

The First African Bicycle Information Organisation (FABIO) is an NGO based

in Jinja. Our mission is to ensure access of the disadvantaged in Uganda to

social economic services through advocacy for sustainable transport with a major interest on bicycles. They

promote the use of sustainable transport solutions with major emphasis on active transport and mass public

transport, as well as creating civic awareness.

SUNCYCLES NAMIBIA - Technical Expert

SunCycles Namibia is a social enterprise that specialises in e-mobility and solar recharge

systems. They were the first to make e-bike technology available to Namibians. Founded

in 2015 in Windhoek, SunCycles Namibia focuses on empowering local communities and

works with a variety of partners on sustainable mobility projects throughout the country.


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Our Project Background

Many families and communities in Africa cannot afford motorised

transport and must rely on commuting on foot. Whether it is their journey

to the market or performing daily household chores such as collecting fire-

wood and water, people are forced to spend several hours a day commut-

ing. Women and girls, who are responsible for most of the family household

chores go 90% of their way on foot. The heavy, grueling loads that they have

to carry on their heads, often result in curvature of the spine and joint pains.

Besides these effects to their health, this difficult work is also often minimal-

ly productive and highly time-consuming. As a result, women and girls walk up to 10- 15 km and up to 8 hours

a day to collect water and firewood. Considering that women are the economic drivers of Africa, with 80% of

the cultivated food coming from them and 90% of their income invested into their families, it is imperative

that less time is spent on commuting and more time is available for other activities.

In addition to this, there are great distances between villages and the

next doctor. Statistically, for each doctor, there are several thousand

inhabitants. With lacking emergency transporting systems, sick peo-

ple, pregnant women as well as patients that require urgent medical

attention are often carried over several days covering large distances

to get to the next health centre which can lead to otherwise avoida-

ble deaths. Because of this deficiency in transport options, only eve-

ry third birth in Africa is medically supported. While in some areas

bicycles ambulances do exist, E-Bikes would be much faster and specifically with ambulances, speed is of ut-

most importance!

As with several countries in Africa, the use of motorised transport in Uganda is booming. Motorcycle taxis are

one example of these increasing modes of motorised transportation. Not only are the drivers of these taxis

often driving too fast, they are also a source of noise pollution as well as air pollution. E-bike Taxis would allow

normal Bicycle Taxidrivers to truly compete with/be competitive to the Motorcycle taxis while at the same

time being distinctly environmentally friendlier as well as saving money that would need to be spent on fuel.

In certain areas in Africa, international cooperations have introduced bicycles with the hope of improving the

standard of living. While this introduction of bicycles has proved to be extremely helpful, EURIST intended on

introducing E-Bikes, which will allow people to travel longer distances and carry more weight, in a shorter

amount of time and with more ease. While E-Bike in themselves are a good idea, many areas in Africa are still


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without electricity which would be required for the charging of the afore mentioned E-Bikes. This lead to the

idea of developing and introducing Solar powered E-Bikes that can be used to help improve the standard of

living in an environmentally friendly way for the people of the Iganga District in Uganda. This project thereby

to a certain extent also plays a role in rural electrification, as the local population receives addition access to

electricity.

The Solar E-Bike Project Description

Our Goal: We want to prove that E-bikes in Africa can work, be locally accepted as well as improve the stand-

ard of living.

Target Groups:

1)E-Cargo Bikes for Women and Men

The increased mobility from an E-Cargo-Bike gives women and men the opportunity to go to the fields or mar-

kets more often. These bikes would reduce 50% of the Transport burdens and can improve the household in-

come as well as the supply of firewood and clean water.

2)Healthcare Centers

In the remote areas of Africa, where there is no fuel or spare parts for mo-

torised Ambulances, E-Bike-Ambulances would be able to transport sick

people and pregnant women to the closest healthcare center.

3)Bicycle Taxidrivers

Bicycle taxidrivers are currently transporting roughly 2500 people a year and in addition support local busi-

ness in transporting their goods. These drivers are often the breadwinners of

their families. An E-Bike-Taxi would not only reduce the strain on the driver,

but would also increase his speed thereby allowing more journeys to be

made. This would allow bicycle taxidrivers to be direct competitors to the

constantly increasing numbers of loud, less environmentally friendly carbon

dioxide emitting motorcycle taxis.


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Technical Details:

Locally available bicycles are converted into E-Bikes with a back carrier can carry a weight of up to 100 kilo-

grams. Each E-Bike is equipped with a Lithium Ion Battery and a bottom Bracket Electric Motor. On average a

full battery can cover a distance of 50Km. The motor has 3 levels of assistance with level 3 providing the most

assistance and level 0 with no assistance at all (that is to say, the E-Bike functions as a normal fully manual

bicycle). The higher the level of assistance, the higher the battery usage and corresponding the more frequent

the requirement for charging.

When the battery is empty, the E-Bike will function as a normal bike, meaning no extra support will be given

by the battery. This will not affect the function of the battery or the motor which will resume full use when the

battery is recharged.

The batteries can sustain 750 recharges equating to roughly 20 000 km after which the functionality will slowly

decrease.

Charging the bicycles be done from a normal power plug. However, to provide an environmentally friendly

sustainable solution, a photovoltaic Solar Panel is provided. The solar panels are connected to 2 lead batteries

allowing the bicycle batteries to even be charged at night.


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The Currently Ongoing Project:

Since the beginning of September 2017, 3 E-Bike-Taxis have been in use in the Bukaya Village in Uganda. Each

of these bikes are being used by a group of 3-4 people, making a total of 10 direct beneficiaries.

Although the bikes provided are E-Bike-Taxis, users of the bikes vary from Bicycle Taxidrivers, to Village Health

Teams and Community Health Promotors.

Monitoring and evaluation of our project is done through 3 main tools: monitoring sheets, weekly to biweekly

meetings with the local project coordination

team and one on one interviews between

the beneficiaries and also with the local pro-

ject coordinators. The beneficiary groups fill

in daily monitoring sheets that keep track of

the usage of the bicycles as well as changes

in income. In addition to this, each benefi-

ciary had a one on one interview with our

local project partner, FABIO, with which

more indepth information on the project

progression was collected.


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The questionnaire entailed questions on topics such as:

- Usage Characteristics e.g. "Do you use the bike for anything else than a boda boda?"

- Technical Questions e.g. "What are the main technical issues on the bike and how do you tackle them?"

- Income and Operational Costs e.g. "Are you able to save money by using this bike?"

- Management /Ownership Questions e.g. "Does one main person use the bike or do you all equally share

the time?"

A second interview will be done towards the end of the one year project period. The information from this

interview will be compared to results from the first. In addition, the local project coordinator has regular -

weekly/biweekly meetings with the beneficiaries to make sure the bicycles are running well and to keep up to

date with the developments in the project. Any experienced technical issues are also discussed at such meet-

ings.

Current Findings:

Usage characteristics

1) Beneficiaries were asked about the distances

covered with an E-Bike compared to the distance

covered before having an E-Bike. Most of the

beneficiaries mentioned that they were able to

cover a much larger distance with the E-Bike

than before having one. 16% of the beneficiaries

mentioned that they cover the same distance,

however, they mentioned that the time spent

doing such work was much less than before hav-

ing the E-Bike.


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2) Taxi driver beneficiaries were asked what else they used the E-Bike for besides as a 'Boda-Boda' (bicycle

taxi).

Income and Operational Costs

1) Beneficiaries were asked if they noticed any change in their income since having an E-Bike.


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2) In addition to directly earned income, beneficiaries were asked were able to save money and save certain

expenses due to having an E-Bike. Most of the beneficiaries reported at least some money being saved each

day for instance from transport costs. The average daily income for these beneficiaries is between 10 000 and

15 000 Ugandan Shillings and money saved due to having an E-Bike was reported to range between 1 500 Shil-

lings to 5 000 Shillings per day and in the case of one beneficiary even up to 10 000 Ugandan Shillings.

3) When asked about operational costs, some E-Bike users have mentioned needing to buy and replace certain

parts of the bicycle or the need to pay a mechanic to fix certain problems with the bike. More to this will be

discussed in the section "Technical Issues" below.

Social Effects

1) E-bike beneficiaries mentioned that having the E-Bike gives them more access to other activities that they

would otherwise not be able to do due to either distance hindrances of money deficits. In addition to that,

having E-Bikes has allowed beneficiaries to have more time for other activities both income generating and

non-income generating activities.


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2) E-Bike beneficiaries were asked if having an E-Bike has made a significant change in their life.

Those who answered "not yet" reported that this is because the method of sharing one E-Bike among three

people does not give them enough time with the Bike to notice an overall significant change in their lives.

Every beneficiary mentioned that other bicycle taxi drivers were extremely interested in acquiring an E-Bike of

their own. When asked about their opinion on whether they think motorcycle taxi drivers would consider

changing to an E-Bike, 2/3 of the beneficiaries believed that they would be interested in changing to an E-Bike.

The ones that said no reported that the current E-Bike is still not fast enough and does not carry enough, the

latter problem can of course be solved by the use of a trailer.

Technical Issues

As shown above, the E-bikes are making a significant positive change in the beneficiaries' lives, however, from

the interviews as well as the meetings with local coordinators, there are a few technical problems that appear

to be reoccurring mechanical with the bicycles that were chosen to be converted into E-Bikes. Only one bene-

ficiary reported to not having experienced any technical issues while they were using the E-Bike, this was a

beneficiary who mentioned that they barely get an opportunity to use the bike, all other beneficiaries re-

ported having had a problem at least once.


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Most of the problems with the

bike are from the back wheel and

the brakes which have proved to

not be strong enough. Beneficiar-

ies have found themselves hav-

ing to regularly tighten spokes as

well as having to realign or re-

place the entire back wheel. Sev-

eral beneficiaries also mentioned

the need of a bigger carrier, in

the case of a cargo bike an extra

trailer is planned. One benefici-

ary mentioned that the current

position of the motor is incon-

venient. Some beneficiaries commented that although the current motors are working as they should be, they

would prefer stronger motors to provide more support to the E-bikes. As seen above, most of the issues on

the bikes are of a mechanical nature. The chosen bicycle is not strong enough to be used as an E-Bike as it was

simply not designed for that.

Future Plans:

As we see great potential for the E-Bike in Africa, we would like to expand our current project to having more

E-Bike Taxis as well as E-Cargo-Bikes and E-Bike Ambulances. However, in order to be able to do this efficiently

at a larger scale, we would need to find the perfect bicycle to be converted into an E-Bike. Therefore, as the

next step in our project, we will approach E-Bike manufacturers with the hope of being able to design a per-

fect E-Bike for the African environment together with our local project partners. We would need a bicycle that

is designed to withstand varying weather conditions as well as uneven and gravel roads. This E-Bike would

need a carrier that can carry loads of at least 100kilograms while at the same time being kept at an affordable

price. Our hope is that with a higher number of bikes being produced, overall costs or each single bike will de-

crease.

Ideally, we would like to work with manufacturers that are open to initially designing bikes to be tested in Af-

rica and to make any changes or adjustments on the bikes that might be necessary. We would then use these


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manufacturers as our main source of E-bikes for EURIST bike charity projects. That is to say, for further money

we receive for bike projects either through bigger funds such as from the German government or foundations

or through smaller funds from continuous fundraising campaigns, we will primarily purchase and use these

new E-Bikes that are specifically designed for Africa. We will also organise a microfinance scheme with benefi-

ciaries where they will also contribute to the purchase of their E-Bike and will receive support from project

funds.

Conclusion

Overall, E-Bikes have great potential in rural and peri-urban Africa. They provide a true financial incentive as

owners will not have to spend money for fuel to run them. People are able to move faster from one point to

the next, allowing for not only a direct increase in income for instance in the case of bicycle taxi drivers, but

also indirect income increase where the faster bike allows daily chores to be completed faster giving more

time for other money generating ventures. This also makes the bikes an important instrument in the emanci-

pation of women as seen with some of our current beneficiaries who have ventured into selling pancakes.

Sick people and pregnant women will be given the opportunity to reach better medical care within a shorter

time than before. In addition to this, E-Bikes provide a decentralised charging option. That is to say, if E-Bikes

travel to villages that have no electricity, people can charge their phones or even power a light bulb with the

E-Bike battery, this would not be possible with normal bikes and motorbikes.

The current trend in Africa, for those who can afford it, is to buy a fuel powered motorbike. The increased

speed and assistance in carrying loads of an E-Bike as opposed to a regular bicycle allows it to be truly com-

petitive to motorbikes thereby providing an effective and environmentally friendly solution for rural and peri-

urban Africa. We are in search of an E-bike manufacturer, to work with us on this project and to help to make

our goal become a reality!

bukaya e-bike taxi technical test report · in the remote areas of africa, where there is no fuel...

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