00:01Kenya's iconic Matatus are going electric.
00:04As fuel prices soar and diesel shortages bite,
00:07drivers and operators are betting on EVs
00:10to help keep public transport moving.
00:12But can Africa's most famous minibuses
00:15really power a transport revolution?
00:21This electric van costs half as much to operate.
00:25And passengers love it because it's quieter.
00:33After five years, five to ten years,
00:36diesel vehicles will start becoming museum pieces.
00:39You know how you go to the railway museum
00:42and you see the old steam trains.
00:44I'm looking forward to seeing those diesel Matatus
00:47in the Matatu Museum.
00:50Public transport in Kenya isn't actually run by the government.
00:54It's largely operated by private owners and collectives.
00:58Kenya's colorful Matatus are world-famous.
01:01But how did they become such an important part of everyday life?
01:07Before the 1970s, public transport on Kenya's upcountry routes
01:12was dominated by the London-based Overseas Transport Company.
01:16The government-owned Kenya bus service operated within the cities.
01:24Privately run vans and minibuses, later called Matatus,
01:28were seen as pirate taxis and often targeted by the police.
01:32That changed in 1973 when President Jomo Kenyatta legalized their operations.
01:39When we look at the transport ecosystem in Kenya,
01:42it's only mainly Nairobi that you see the 33-seater buses or 51-seater.
01:48In Kenya, we call them all Nissan's.
01:50But if you go onto the ground, there are very few that are actually Nissan's.
01:54Majority are the brands.
01:55But however, that is the ecosystem.
01:58That is how Kenyans move.
02:00Today, Matatus are the backbone of commuter transport,
02:04moving millions across the country every day.
02:07But are they ready for another major shift?
02:13To find out, we traveled 200 kilometers from the capital Nairobi
02:17to a transport company already testing the move to electric.
02:24Here, the pumps have run dry,
02:26and the losses are mounting for one of Kenya's best-known public transport companies, 4NTE.
02:34Half its fleet is grounded,
02:36and the fuel shipment promised two days ago has still not arrived.
02:42For operators already under pressure from rising fuel costs,
02:46electric mobility is starting to look like a practical alternative.
02:55Currently, in our circle, we have over 550 vehicles that are diesel-fueled.
03:02Our members are willing now to switch to electrical vans or vehicles
03:07because the price of diesel has shoot up.
03:11According to the Energy and Petroleum Authority,
03:14Kenya imports about 10 billion liters of fuel every year,
03:18much of it powering public transport.
03:22Industry observers say that if this sector goes electric,
03:26it could save on foreign exchange and support a cleaner future for Kenya.
03:34If more vehicles are going, if we reduce our biggest Forex bill,
03:38our biggest Forex bill in this country is the importation of fuel.
03:41I think the last statistic showed $551 million.
03:47If you were to even reduce that by 10%,
03:50it gives this country a lot of chance to put money into development
03:57and into development of the power infrastructure.
04:02With diesel prices rising sharply over the past years,
04:06can a partnership between an EV assembler and Matatu operators
04:10steer the industry toward a more sustainable transition?
04:15Baseigo have been working with transport players like 4NTE,
04:19who have long been squeezed by runaway fuel costs.
04:22The Matatu's popularity has motivated them to place an order for more electric vans.
04:32700 kilometers away in the port city of Mombasa,
04:36Doreen Orishaba and her team of engineers are already filling the pressure building.
04:43Right now our suppliers are in China for the kids.
04:47Like it's a whole host of different parts that we need to coordinate throughout the supply chain.
04:55However, we also have the local components.
04:58So aspects such as the seats, those are being locally made,
05:02locally designed, locally made and locally integrated.
05:06We have the floor on the buses.
05:10We also do the glass locally.
05:15Here at Associated Vehicle Assemblers,
05:18Baseigo is the first to assemble electric vans in the country.
05:24Competition among assemblers is fierce,
05:27and they are still without a dedicated assembly line.
05:30For now, they're working with what they have.
05:33There's a tight turnover for the first 20 orders.
05:37For Doreen Orishaba, a Ugandan-born engineer,
05:40Kenya has become both home and purpose.
05:43This is not her first rodeo in the electric mobility sector.
05:47She began her career at Kira Motors in Uganda,
05:50where she played a key role in developing and scaling
05:53Africa's first locally manufactured electric vehicles.
05:59It opened my eyes to the need to push for electric mobility.
06:04I know at the time people used to think,
06:06oh, maybe the electric vehicle is a luxury.
06:10But we are in a moment where it's no longer a luxury.
06:13It's a necessity.
06:14For the last five years,
06:16Baseigo has been working with bus companies in Nairobi
06:19on a pay-as-you-drive leasing model.
06:21Today, the company runs more than 100 buses
06:25and has started assembling 16-seater electric matatus
06:29designed for longer routes.
06:31This, they hope, will open up opportunities beyond the capital.
06:38The dream is to replace the diesel vehicles.
06:43That's the dream.
06:44Now, when you are selling that to an operator to do that,
06:48he's looking at, okay, this one might be 20% or 15% more expensive to acquire,
06:53but it is 30% cheaper to run on a daily basis.
06:57And that becomes an easier, not an easy, but an easier argument to have.
07:04The first electric van from the batch of 20 is now ready for testing.
07:09Having spent 32 years behind the wheel,
07:12Peter Moura is now witnessing the shift
07:15from fossil fuel vehicles to electric mobility firsthand.
07:19We used to talk about the EV in the future,
07:22but now we have it in practice.
07:24In terms of assembly, this EV is a bit easier to build
07:29because the engine, where we used to do the engine,
07:33now we are doing the battery and the motor.
07:39I'm almost retiring this time.
07:40I'm having some very few years to go,
07:42and I think I'll go home with my EV.
07:45One of these EVs, I'll go home with it.
07:51Meanwhile, in Yahururu, one of Kenya's highest towns,
07:56and known for its waterfalls,
07:59John Mathenge is preparing for his second trip of the day.
08:03His electric matatu takes about an hour and a half to fully charge,
08:07and covers more than 300 kilometers a day.
08:15There's a huge difference between the diesel van and this electric one.
08:20This electric van costs half as much to operate,
08:23and passengers love it because it's quieter.
08:28Personally, I love this EV because it's more profitable.
08:35And his passengers are indeed enjoying the ride, too.
08:44I love this vehicle because it's quiet.
08:49And it's good because it does not pollute the environment.
08:53It uses green energy.
08:58When Doreen Urishaba isn't handling new van orders,
09:02she can often be found at the virtual racetrack with her friends,
09:05signing off on the week and enjoying her favorite pastime.
09:11It's a different kind of mobility in action.
09:17Formula One has already introduced the e-mobility aspect,
09:21so there is Formula E, where the vehicles purely rely on the battery,
09:26100% of it, of the energy is from the battery.
09:28I know people still love to hear the noise of the engine revving,
09:31and, you know, the shift of gears.
09:34But I think for the sake of the planet,
09:37it's a good thing to shift now to integrating that e-mobility aspect into this racing.
09:44It's still not clear if Kenya's public transport sector is ready for an electric transition.
09:50Policy gaps, limited charging infrastructure, and the high upfront cost of electric vehicles remain major challenges.
09:59But on the ground, adoption is already gaining momentum.
10:03Faced with rising fuel costs, Matatu owners and drivers are beginning to see electric vehicles not just as a cleaner
10:11option,
10:12but also as a practical way to cut costs and stay profitable.
10:16Kenya's electric transition is well underway.
10:19How quickly it accelerates will depend on whether charging infrastructure, investment, and wider adoption can keep pace.
