Introduction
Tro-tro, also known as matatu in East Africa and taxi bus in South Africa, are used by 70% of the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) population as the main source of daily transportation. They’re relied upon for commuting to work, schools, market places and transporting of goods. Without tro-tros, the economies of most countries would stand still.
However, most tro-tros are dilapidated vans that consume gasoline and have low emissions ratings. Because of the state of the vans, they emit large volumes of polluting gases. These are usually vehicles that have failed greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and fuel economy standards in another country and have been imported to the developing world. They often breakdown in the middle of the road which also causes road accidents.
With the growth of electric vans manufacturing around the world, e-trotro is the future. Our goal is to make Ghana one of the first countries in the world with an electrified public transportation system. Electric trotro can also be deployed across the entire African continent solving similar environmental, social, and safety issues.
The benefits include:
● Lower cost of transportation
● Reduced pollution to the tune of 1 million metric tonnes of CO2
● Reduced incidence of pollution-based diseases such as asthma
● Reduced deaths from road accidents caused by poor quality pubic transports
● Reduced traffic as more people use public transportation
 |
1 million tons of CO2 released by Ghana’s tro-tros each year:
A preliminary analysis shows 1 million tons of CO2 are released each year by tro-tros in Ghana. This is because the tro-tros are usually old, dilapidated vehicles that fail emissions standards. However, emissions standards are not enforced locally.
|
 |
Ghana is ranked 31st in the world for most road accidents at a rate of 33 per 100K and is the leading cause of accidental death in the country. The tro-tros are old and breakdown frequently, which in addition to the poor quality of the roads, causes a high rate of accidents.
|
 |
High air pollution contributes to 780K deaths per year:
Deaths caused by air pollution is estimated at 3.7M globally and 780K in Africa annually. Exposure to bad air quality causes respiratory and cardiovascular diseases that kills more people than malaria. This is especially true in countries such as Ghana with older public transport vehicles
|
 |
High traffic congestion in the cities:
Due to the poor quality of public transportation options, owners of private cars are more incentivized to drive into the city, which leads to increased traffic.
|
Solution
We are starting a program to deploy E-Trotro across Ghana and the continent.
Stay tuned...
