Nothing distinguishes the big dusty Toyota from another safari 4×4. The machine is well over 20 years old and several times around the meter. The innovation is there, under the hood, where a German start-up helped Denis Lebouteux install an electric motor. Two of its vehicles are equipped for the moment, two prototypes. The others should follow.
For the Frenchman, electricity coupled with solar is the future of Africa: “Ecologically, these cars at the end of their life, it’s an ecological disaster, they consume a lot (…) Today, converting a car costs $30,000. Tomorrow it will be 20,000.” A
Denis Lebouteux estimates that it will take him two years to make his investment profitable. Not a sound, close to the animals, its electric 4x4s are used only to take its customers on safari, especially at night. With 130 kilometers of autonomy, that is more than enough. “There is a rapid evolution of technologies, he observes. Between the batteries I bought last year and this year, we gain 10% power for equal weight.”
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“It opened my eyes”
The Frenchman recalls that the first electric car was built by a French engineer in… 1880! In a country where the sun shines 360 days a year, it plans to switch half of its fleet of 50 cars to electric and solar by 2025. “In 10 years, there will be millions of electric cars in Africa, he predicted. This continent is a garbage can: all the cars that can no longer pass the technical control come here. It opened my eyes: Africa will be electric… but she may not know it yet!”
It has been years since Denis Lebouteux understood that solar power was the solution for his eight lodges, high-end tents or permanent hotels, built deep in the national parks of northern Tanzania, on the borders of Lake Victoria and the Kilimanjaro. “Solar energy arrived about ten years ago, says the Haut-Savoyard. Right from the start, we switched from solar electricity to hot water. Technology is progressing and prices have fallen: we have gone from 5,000 euros eight years ago to 750 this year for the same power. As a result, we even switched the laundry to solar.” Here, between 1,200 and 2,500 meters above sea level, there is no need for air conditioning, the evenings are cool all year round.
Write to him: [email protected]
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