Kenyan high school physics teacher, Paul Waweru, is redefining the term “re-use” through his innovative laptop battery–powered bikes.
Necessity is indeed the mother of innovation – since his creative solution was born out of his need for a new motorbike when his electric bike stopped functioning and he couldn’t travel to work.
He explained to Africa News that, “nobody was selling electric bikes in Kenya, so I had to import one. Then after a few months, the batteries were no longer working because of the technology.” Paul stumbled onto old laptop batteries while trying to find an alternative.
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With this new idea, he founded Ecomobilus to supply laptop battery-powered bikes to the market. According to Waweru, a fully charged battery can travel up to 100 kilometers. He also says that his invention is as good as conventional motorbikes, and even boasts that his bikes are more advantageous to other gasoline-powered bikes because of the low cost of maintenance and low cost of fueling.
Waweru collects motorbike frames from old bikes, removes their engines, and replaces them with a battery and motor to push the bike. The bike can be charged in 45 minutes if it has a fast charger.
His smart solution comes at an important age where climate change issues are rampant and every action to ease the problem is welcome. Electric vehicles do not emit toxic gases, which saves the environment from fuel-related greenhouse emissions.
Waweru’s motorbikes are being used as couriers by delivery drivers around the city. Some of the drivers attest that they save more money using Waweru’s Ecomobilus.
He has managed to fill the gap of preserving the Earth with his invention, as well as introduce a new form of easy-to-maintain, inexpensive transportation to the people in his country.
