GIGL partners JET Motor Company to launch Nigeria’s first electric vehicle for deliveries
Mobility startups in the world are beginning to become very conscious of the environmental hazards associated with their businesses. That’s why in a bid to reduce its carbon footprints, GIGL, a Nigerian courier and Logistics company has partnered with JET Motor Company to launch its first electric vehicle (EVs) for deliveries in Lagos. This partnership is a result of an agreement that was made about 2 years ago to push the company’s free carbon initiative.
GIGL is the first company to make this move-in Nigeria. The new electric vehicles are 100% electric delivery vans well suited for Nigerian roads. As part of the partnership, GIGL will also receive 1-year maintenance of the vehicles and proper training of personnel in use and maintenance.
Founded in 2018, JET Motor Company has produced about 500 units of cars and has a local EV plant along Epe in Lagos with the capacity to produce between 5 to 7 vehicles a day.
Rupani Sanjay, Director of Sales and Marketing explained that the EVs have a European design with Asian technology in the mix. It also uses a lithium-ion battery that has a lifetime of about 5 years.
In terms of battery life, the Electric vehicle has a 240 Km per charge for a full day’s work in the state factoring in the heavy traffic in the Lagos metropolis but under normal circumstances, the van can cover up to 300 km.
Oluwemimo Joseph, who doubles as the head, strategy and projects, and chief financial officer of JET Motor Company said on the Launch, “People have asked me, what if you spend 10 hours in traffic, My reply was that the battery will not discharge at that same rate when the vehicle is stationary. So, it means even if you spend 10 hours in traffic the rate of discharge will be like 2%. So, you can easily cover 240 kilometers if the battery is fully charged.”
In terms of charging infrastructure, Gig has a charging facility built within GIG logistic digital hub in Gbagada which can charge the van to full charge in 2 hours but the company will only use the vehicles for intra-state deliveries because of a lack of adequate charging stations.
Ocholi Etu, the Director of Operations Services and Hubs at GIG Logistics said, “This started about two years ago when we reached out to JET Motors to help us push our carbon-free initiative. By carbon-free, I mean we are looking at having total electric vehicles do our deliveries all around Nigeria. Electric vehicles have 70% lower maintenance cost compared to the internal combustion engine (ICE).”
Ocholi also noted that the new Electric Vehicle is an appeal to the government to meet halfway in the drive for a greener Nigeria.