The use of e-bikes to deliver items for the last mile of e-commerce and for private transportation is how the world is heading toward green-energy-powered transportation. Co-founder of the South African non-profit Mobility Centre for Africa, Victor Radebe, highlighted the effect of e-bikes on the carbon footprint and how the vehicle was going to change the global supply chain.

“There needs to be a war on private cars because they are our problem. The message should be, not cutting down on emissions, but quitting emissions,” Radebe told delegates at the Transport Evolution Africa Forum & Expo.

The usage of micro vehicles, which weigh less than 500 kg compared to an ordinary car’s one to two tonnes of weight, is referred to as micro-mobility. Research by the EU Transport Authority found that automobile trips are extremely wasteful and that micro cars can replace almost 60% of them.

The biggest problem with cars is that a car has an average occupancy of 1.5%

Micro-mobility is where we need to go. In cities, cars consume more than half of the available space. For every square meter of a structure, there must be a certain number of parking places, according to city planners, who also consider how broad the roadways will be. What will the outcome be? Dead space is any parking space that isn’t occupied. Our cities are becoming suffocated by car-centric land use planning. Radebe said, while working with planners at the KwaZulu Natal provincial government on the development of the Durban aerotropolis, he had noticed a tendency to plan for vehicles and not bikes. Manufacturers should start switching to solar-powered vehicles that produce no greenhouse gas emissions instead of relying on the grid to power e-vehicles. Original equipment manufacturers (OEM) did not, however, take solar into account and don’t currently have any plans to release reasonably priced electric automobiles on the market. In comparison to an ICE comparable that costs between R1.4 million and R1.5 million, the Jaguar I Pace, for instance, costs around R2 million.

 “The OEMs want to sell us high-end models and they want the government to subsidise it – the Jaguar I Pace, BMW i3, Porsche Taycan and Volvo CX40. These are the electric vehicle models coming into South Africa…there is nothing low end,” Radebe said. “There is no one talking about electrifying the Toyota Quantum or the VW Polo. The reason they go high end is because these models are profitable.” 

“Toyota, Nissan and Mercedes are not planning to decarbonise the minibus taxi fleet that moves over 70% of daily commuters, neither is this in the government’s plans to do so,” he said.

There are 1.5 billion cars in the world that travel 24 trillion kilometres a year

90% of these vehicles are driven by internal combustion engines. Research shows that electrifying all cars will result in a 75% reduction in emissions. These vehicles account for 6Gt of CO2 emissions. SA should localise micro-mobility electric vehicles and battery manufacturing. One of the easiest things for us to build and localise in South Africa, is a bike. The frames and mirrors can be manufactured locally, the only imports would be for the motors of these e-bikes. 500 e-bikes are in the process of being brought into SA for use in urban spaces by companies like Uber Eats and Mr Delivery.