Motorcycles Help Save The World
A TED talk about motorcycles in Africa.
OK, that title is a bit overly dramatic but it’s also true. All of us who ride know that when it comes to pollution and infrastructure, motorcycles are a plus. And that gets more true when the motorcycles are electric. I mean, let’s face it, with electric cars growing in numbers it gets harder and harder to make the low pollution argument. Electric bikes get us back on track.
So I was interested when Judy sent me an email with a link to a TED talk video about an effort going on in Africa. The video, “Africa’s path to clean mobility — driven by motorcycles,” has this guy, Adetayo Bamiduro, talking about a start-up he and another guy have got going to help put motorcycle taxi drivers in Lagos, Nigeria, on electric bikes.
First a little background. (If you watch the video, sorry, I’m just repeating some of what he tells you.) Lagos is one of the biggest cities in Africa and by 2060 is projected to be larger than New York City or Mexico City. Also, Nigeria is projected to be bigger (in population) than the United States. So we’re talking big.
As in much of the world, motorcycle taxis are common and make sense. However, says Bamiduro, most drivers are outside of the formal economy so they have to get money to go into business from loan sharks. They then have no cash left to maintain their bikes properly, which leaves them with heavily polluting machines. Big problem in a big city like this.
So the start-up owns a fleet of electric bikes. The driver signs up on their app, takes out a company-maintained machine, cuts out the middle man (loan shark) and doubles his income while cutting pollution by a lot. A big win-win.
This is such a big change in just a few years. I remember when Zero Motorcycles first came on the scene. It was a real question whether anyone would even have any interest in something like that. I test rode some Zeros a couple times and they were fine but they were small, had a very limited range, and cost a whole lot.
But Zeros get better each year, as does the range of their batteries. And now there are a lot of electric motorcycles on the market, including one built by Harley-Davidson.
I assume that one day I’ll own an electric car, although at the moment I have only 80,000 miles on my 2006 Hyundai, so it probably won’t be any time soon. But I also assume that one day I’ll own an electric motorcycle, and I suspect that will happen sooner. The future really is now.
Biker Quote for Today
A motorcycle cannot/will not fall over without an audience.
Tags: Harkey Livewire, TED talks, Zero Motorcycles
