BasiGo ,a Kenyan electric mobility company has partnered with the Associated Vehicle Assemblers Ltd (AVA) to assemble its buses following as demand for electric vehicles is expected to rise in the coming years.
The company seeks to manufacture over 1,000 electric buses in the next 3 years, creating over 300 new manufacturing jobs and an additional 300 jobs in the ecosystem of charging, maintenance, and financing required to support electric buses in operation.
“BasiGo is committed to delivering electric buses that are 100 percent assembled in Kenya. We are elated to be partnering with AVA…which has had the expertise for many years in the assembly in the country,” said the CEO, Jit Bhattachary.
As part of the partnership,AVA will assemble 33-seater buses as the company wants to phase out 25-seater buses used in its pilot project.
Last year,the company shipped 15 partially assembled 25-seater electric buses , which AVA completed building this month. The buses are “set to start operations with Nairobi matatu operators in the coming months,” BasiGo said.
The firm has been piloting two buses since March 2022 with Citi Hoppa and East Shuttle, plying the North Airport Road to Allsops, Thika Road and the Dandora–City Stadium routes.
According to the company ,the buses have covered 120,000 kilometres in the pilot period and ferried over 150,000 passengers and the company seeks to grow its revenue by installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the next two years.
With this partnership, BasiGo becomes the first company to assemble electrical vehicles locally.Since launching in March 2022, BasiGo’s electric buses have driven over 141,000 kilometers and carried over 185,000 passengers as part of fleet operations with two Nairobi bus operators East Shuttle and Citi Hoppa.