00:08This is Tanzania's first hand-built and domestically designed electric vehicle.
00:15Tired of soaring fuel prices and worsening air pollution, political cartoonist Masoud
00:20Kipanya decided to act.
00:22He is known in Tanzania for his sharp pen and often car-themed cartoons.
00:26But now, he is also known for designing cars.
00:31Masoud Kipanya spent 11 months engineering and hand-building a compact electric pickup truck
00:37in a small workshop.
00:38The vehicle is tailored for low-income traders and delivery people who need affordable urban
00:43transport.
00:44Most components are locally sourced, though the batteries and motors are imported from
00:49China.
00:53I used to spend more than about US$20 a day on petrol, because my business involves
01:00deliveries.
01:01But with this electric car, I now spend about US$3 a day to charge.
01:09The range of the car is up to 160 kilometers with a fully charged battery, and the inventor
01:14says this home-designed truck is much cheaper than buying a comparable imported EV.
01:19There are over 5,000 electric vehicles like this three-wheeler on Tanzania's roads.
01:24That's the highest in East Africa.
01:26But there's still no public charging network.
01:29Most owners rely on standard home sockets, a challenge in a country where scheduled outages
01:34of power for maintenance still no care.
01:37Masoud Kipanya is working on new designs.
01:39His next model is already under construction.
01:42In all this, keep coming in.
01:44There's even interest from Kenyan President William Ruto and the Kingdom of Iswatini.
01:49But the inventor has a bigger goal.
01:51Make EVs accessible to everyone.
01:55Customers want to see what they will save economically, you know?
01:58Our goal is to meet that need, while at the same time contributing to the global campaign
02:03to reduce the environmental impact.
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