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By Moses Akaigwe
Chairman of Innoson Group, Chief Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma, has expressed concerns over Electric Vehicles in Nigeria, stating that such vehicles are good, but not yet for Africa.
With the relatively high cost of EVs in Nigeria, Chukwuma is of the view that most Nigerians will rather prefer to buy petrol or diesel-powered vehicles instead of EVs.
He listed battery issues as a major obstacle but opined that local production of battery is the only factor that would reduce the escalating cost of EVs.
The auto maker therefore, advised the Federal Government to consider huge investments in local battery production, emphasising that without investments geared towards producing the batteries locally, Electric Vehicles will remain expensive.
Speaking with journalists at Nnewi in Anambra State, Chukwuma said that, there is need for the government to make investments in battery production, noting that, importing the batteries will make the vehicles more expensive.
For instance, Chukwuma avvered that after four years, electric vehicles users will have to change the batteries and buy new ones.
He said “Electric Vehicles are good, but not yet for Africa, I don’t think it will go far for now. This is because when you buy an electric vehicle, a major component in the vehicle, like the battery, will no longer be usable after four years. The battery will die after four years, and most of them are like that”.
“The solution is, therefore, local production of batteries. Producing the batteries in Nigeria will considerably reduce the price, so that even when it is to be replaced every four years, it won’t impose a huge finanzcial burden on the owner.The best type of vehicle that suits the Nigerian situation today is the one powered by CNG. It will be better and cheaper when we produce the CNG {gas} bottles here”, he added.
Explaining further, Chukwuma said that, if you import the bottles to use in manufacturing CNG vehicles, the price of the vehicle will be very high.
“When the gas bottles are imported, conversion from petrol/diesel to CNG will not be less than N800,000. But producing the bottles here in Nigeria will crash the conversion cost to N300,000. To set up such an investment is very expensive. That is why government needs to look into this challenge with a view to providing incentives, so that people will be able to convert their vehicles at cheaper costs.”
On way forward, Chukwuma who said his company has solutions that would help reduce the high cost of EVs, added that the scope of such investment in battery production requires government’s support.
“Again, there are certain things we are supposed to produce here because we have the materials. If we produce them here, the conversion cost will be N300,000. Without producing these vital materials here, the conversion cost will be like N800,000. That investment is important”.
Advising that CNG powered vehicles are the way to go, Chukwuma recalled that his 13-year old company diversified into producing CNG vehicles two years ago when he knew that someday soon, the fuel price would go up.
With that foresight, the auto maker stated that, he knew right from the beginning that the government was going to remove the subsidy which would eventually increase the pump prices of fuel.
“So I started planning by buying the equipment. That was why I was able to produce so many units immediately the fuel subsidy was removed by the government. If you go to places like Benin, 80 per cent of the vehicles they are using are CNG-powered” .
“They have tested CNG and it’s working very fine for them over there. So, I believe that in the nearest future, all Nigerians will embrace CNG vehicles, because they are not just very affordable, but using them also leads to low maintenance costs” .
“That was why I started the production in time, in fact, before everybody, and we are doing well. Now, we are converting petrol/diesel vehicles for people that are using our own {Innoson} vehicles. After some time, when our own vehicles have been covered, we can then start converting vehicles people who own or use other brands”, Chukwuma said.
