By Godwill Arthur-Mensah
Accra, Sept.27, GNA — Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia says the Government will support Ghanaian electric vehicle assembling firm, Solar Taxi, to scale up its production.
He said the E-mobility company’s vision was in tandem with the Government’s agenda of promoting the use of electric-based transport system in Ghana to reduce greenhouse gases and ensure cheaper transportation cost.
It was also in line with the world’s plan to transition from the use of fossil fuel to renewable energy sources.
“We’ll support you, you can count on us.We will open the channels and remove the bottlenecks to scale up. This is not about you, it’s about us as a nation,” Vice President Bawumia said.
Dr Bawumia gave the assurance when he paid a familiarisation visit to the premises of Solar Taxi at Laterbiokoshie, Accra, on Wednesday.
The Vice President toured the company’s assembling plant and interacted with its engineers, of which 90 per cent were females.
The company also transported Dr Bawumia and his entourage on its 34-seater electric bus.
Vice President Bawumia said it was possible for a e-mobility company in a developing nation like Ghana to leapfrog those in advanced countries and was optimistic that with the necessary support Solar Taxi could make a headway in leading the charge in the use of electric vehicles in Ghana and Africa at large.
The Vice President stated that high cost of petrol and diesel played major roles in hikes of transportation cost in the country, hence promoting the use of electric vehicles would drastically reduce the cost of transportation and create jobs for the youth.
Dr Bawumia said the government was in the process of putting in place a e-mobility policy framework to guide the use of electric vehicles and was considering inputs from various stakeholders.
He urged the heads of the State Transportation Company Limited, Metro Mass Transit and Bus Rapid Transit System (Aayaloloo) to consider partnerships with Solar Taxi, to convert their fossil fuel-based buses into electric ones to reduce their expenditures on petroleum products.
Mr Jorge Kwadwo Appiah, the Chief Executive Officer, Solar Taxi, said the company started operations in Ghana in 2018 and had so far supplied 500 electric vehicles onto the Ghanaian market.
There were about 460 motorbikes and some tricycles in the northern parts of the country.
He said lack of funds had been a major setback on its ability to scale up production and thus, called for government’s support and potential partnerships with state agencies.
He said the company had a plan of establishing an electric vehicle plant in Prampram and, thus appealed for tax incentives from the government.
In the next three to five years, he said, it would like to have 10,000 electric vehicles on the Ghanaian market and create 10,000 jobs.
Currently, it rents out electric vans, motorbikes and tricycles to individuals and corporate entities.
The company also have a ride hailing platform that provide vehicles for drivers on daily basis with some earning GHc300.00 a day and GHC3,000 per month.
GNA