Fishermen on Lake Victoria in Kenya have begun using some of Africa’s first electric fishing boats. A Kenya-based start-up, ASOBO is offering battery-powered engines to some of the tens of thousands of boats which go out onto the water each night, as a cheaper and greener alternative to petrol ones. ASOBO started business operations in February 2020. Its aim is to convince as many fishermen as possible to switch to a high-tech electric drive. The initiative is also training fishermen to use the new electric drive efficiently, charging the Torqeedo Power 24-3500 batteries with 3.5 kWh and offering a backup service. “For the community at large, what we are doing is reducing massively CO2 and other negative emissions into the air, as well as reducing oil pollution into the lake which is all associated with the use of petrol engines. So over time, what we with our model hope to also contribute is a much cleaner environment,” Laurens Friso, Co-founder, and CEO of ASOBO said. The company is seeking to expand the business to people in Uganda and Senegal.
SOURCE: BBC