EASY Go, a division of the CMED, has introduced an electric shuttle service from Harare’s International airport. As African countries join the electric vehicle revolution, fleet operators and mass transit services represent some of the low-hanging fruit. These are key segments that are ripe for electrification.
A lot of operators in these industries have fixed routes that make it easy to select EVs to fit their specific needs. The fixed nature of some of their routes make it easy to site charging infrastructure along those routes as well as take advantage of their depots for daytime and overnight.
The shuttle service is using the BYD T3. CMED recently took delivery of several T3s as well as some new BYD E6s with the Blade battery. The T3 electric van has a 50.3 kWh battery and is equipped with a 100 kW AC permanent magnet synchronous motor providing 180 Nm of torque. It has a range of 310 km in city driving and 269 km combined cycle (WLTP). In terms of advanced safety, it comes with features like Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electric Parking System (EPS), Brake Override System (BOS), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), and more. The regenerative braking system helps to improve range and save energy.
The BYD T3 offers a claimed NEDC driving range of 300km between charges, though this figure will be a bit lower on the newer WLTP test cycle. Harare’s International airport is quite close to town. For example, it is only about 24 km from Arundel, Mt Pleasant, and Borrowdale suburbs.
It uses a 50.3kWh ‘Blade’ battery pack to drive a 70kW and 180Nm electric motor. Charging is done through a 6.6kW onboard AC charger with a claimed recharge time of 8 hours, or via a 40kW-capable DC charger with a CCS connector that’ll charge the van up in a claimed 1.3 hours.
The roughly Volkswagen Caddy-sized BYD T3 measures 4460mm long, 1720mm wide and 1875mm tall, and sits on a 2725mm wheelbase. It weighs 1610kg in two-seater guise and based on its claimed GVM should offer around 800kg of payload including occupants, and stow up to 3.8 cubic-metres of stuff.
