Like I earlier wrote sometime ago, I forsee the proliferation of electric vehicles on Nigerian roads much faster than other alternative fuels.
While the government is spending billions of Naira pushing for other alternative fuels to power internal combustion engines like vehicles and generators, individuals seem to be privately embracing electric vehicles and (solar) power more.
Importing, using and powering these types of vehicles might not pose a big problem as the charging can be easily managed by the user by taking informed decisions on his charging pattern to maximize the vehicle’s range.
My biggest worry is the terrible driving habits of Nigerian road users who have (in most cases) almost zero respect for each other and our vehicles. Hence many vehicles appear very old and distasteful after a few days, weeks and months of usage on our roads due to the avoidable dings, scapes, bashes that happens on our roads by other road users; heavy-duty vehicles, cars, bikes, kart pushers and even pedestrians who can not walk beside cars and not bang on the cars for no just cause.
Most of our roads are also very unavoidably treacherous and unforgiving to suspensions of vehicles.
So the biggest issues these electric vehicles might be having on our roads will stem from these two points I elucidated above.
Most electric vehicles have less moving parts than their internal combustion counterparts hence needing less maintenance, coupled to the fact that they also need much less fluids (in many cases, zero oils) like engine oils, gearbox oils etc.
A few days I was in traffic on the Apapa-Oshodi expressway when I noticed a BYD Song electric vehicle. A crossover from the Build Your Dreams Chinese automotive giant.
As we approached the Liverpool Bridge, a container laden heavy-duty trailer impatiently swung away from its lane and into the path of the BYD forcing the driver to run into a deep pothole at the edge of the road.
In this case, the BYD was lucky to escape a body damage from the trailer or from being forced to hit the concrete barrier of the road, but the suspension took the brunt of the assault. Next time, it might not be very lucky.
If an impact happens to the car, that will catalyze the depreciation rapidly as body panels and lights and suspension parts will need to be panelbeaten and resprayed or changed. In most cases, the money spent is a far cry from the change in outcome of the repairs to the original appearance of the vehicle.
This is actually not an exclusive preserve of only electric vehicles, other expensive vehicles especially vehicles bought brand new also suffer from this.
Unfortunately it is a phobia we live with on Nigerian roads with no end in sight.