Why green vehicles are not making wave in Nigeria

The global shift to solar, wind and electric vehicles, according to experts is too monumental to overstate, but it may take many years to see such innovation come to full force in Nigeria.

For the eco-friendly vehicles to become a reality government must focus on legislations and policies that would enable people see the need to protect the environment by going green, particularly in the area of transportation, experts said.

The Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen put total global market for electric vehicles at 740,000, indicating a fairly rapid growth across the world. Indeed, the last three years saw a remarkable surge in demand for electric vehicles in the UK with new registrations of plug-in cars increasing from 3,500 in 2013, to more than 75,000 at the beginning of August 2016.

Currently, there are more than one billion vehicles across the world and by 2035, a report published by Navigant Research, said the number would jump to two billion or more but Green Car Congress said, only 2.5 percent of those vehicles would be battery electric, plug-in hybrid, or fuel-cell vehicles, the rest will run on gasoline or diesel fuel.

According to the report, another eight percent will be hybrid-electric or natural gas powered, and Navigant expects that fully 45 per cent of all vehicles in use in 2035 would have start-stop systems fitted.

Green vehicles are usually much more environmentally friendly, as they have less pollutant emissions and of many benefits to the environment, and as Nigeria expects to be one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020, some experts believe that green vehicles would do the country good, particularly as major cities in the country are ranked worst in terms of pollution.

Though Africa is not at the forefront yet when it comes to green vehicles, but last year, South African units of BMW and Nissan, launched a project to build a national grid for electric and hybrid cars to expand sales of vehicles that could reduce pollution in Africa’s top auto market.

The project would see the two companies roll out fast-charging stations by 2017, which BMW and Nissan cars can use to power up.Nissan introduced its all-electric Leaf in South Africa in 2013, while BMW launched its i3 and i8 models in March last year.Also, earlier in the year in South Africa, BMW and Nissan signed pact with Uber to set up Uber Green, an electric-car pilot project.

Director, Nissan Nigeria Regional Project, Sorin Profir, who spoke with The Guardian said, Nigeria only require necessary legislation and encouragement to have green vehicle across its cities.

According to him, the problem is not directly about the poor power supply, just like the situation is in South Africa, organisations would invest and make green vehicle work if the legislation is friendly to investors.“If you want green vehicles in Nigeria, first you must get rid of ‘tokumbo’ and create the legislation that will encourage people to buy green vehicles.

“You are not going to charge your vehicle by using generator because that is no longer green but proper legislations and reliable power supply will encourage Nigerians to buy green vehicles,” Profir said.

However, With the rate at which global warming is escalating, Director at Lagos based Carbon Exchange Trade, Innocent Azih, said government and private players must begin to consider initiatives that would promote green vehicle in Nigeria.

According to him, green vehicles are feasible on Nigeria roads with necessary infrastructure, investments and willingness.“We have some green vehicles presently in Nigeria, though the vehicles are not necessarily fully green. Transportation contribute hugely to the climate change issue, so as the federal government is talking to investors to build renewable energy sources, we must begin to look at how to push for green vehicle,” he said.

Azinh, who said Nigeria must begin to look at a holistic approach to greening the economy, disclosed that Carbon Exchange Trade would from 2017, begin to push for green vehicle and if the organisation makes headway with the campaign, Nigerians would begin to see tricycles, cars and other public transport fleets that are green.Just as the situation is across the world, he urged the federal government to begin to look at policies that would create national focus on the issue of green vehicles.

Azih said: “It is going to give a very significant lift to the economy because across the world mass transit buses are now running fully green in favour of those cities. That is possible here if government can look at that.”He lamented that civil organistions and the media, who are suppose to bring up such discussion have not really lived up to expectation because most people do not understand the need for green vehicles.

Just as the situation is in South Africa, where private investors are already focusing on green vehicles, Azih noted that government policies and legislation would be required to promote and encourage organisations that are looking at green development in the country. He said: “Companies across the world are looking at green initiatives, particularly in the aspect of transportation but here we are still depending on fossil fuel.”

But Principal Consultant, Media Advocate Limited, a marketing communications and automotive resource company, Manny Philipson, sees the development as technology of tomorrow, which may not be welcomed in Nigeria yet.“Solar and electric vehicles may not be here soon because we need stable power supply to support the system,” Philipson said.

Generally, oil prices would have to skyrocket above $350 per barrel for electric vehicle makers to make a dent in the auto market, a study done by researchers at the University of Chicago earlier this month revealed.

The researchers further explained that since the batteries for electric vehicles cost about $325 per kWh averagely, the price of oil would need to pitch upward by nearly 1,000 per cent before Tesla’s auto fleet and the Nissan Leaf for instance would be cheaper than gas-powered vehicles.

The numbers are not likely to change much over the next few years, as oil traded at an average of $49 per barrel during 2015, and is currently being sold a paltry $44.27 a barrel as at Wednesday.