Meta Electric has partnered with Sendy, a leading delivery and logistics service provider which began as a Kenyan start up and is now an African-wide trade platform. Sendy’s aim is to help individuals and businesses find a better way to move things from point A to point B. Initially established to deliver small packages on motorcycles Sendy has grown to include four-wheelers – vans, pickups, and trucks of all sizes. Today, Sendy helps more than 100,000 thousand businesses, across Africa, do more by providing end-to-end logistics solutions, financing and online marketplaces through technology.
Meta Electric is Kenya’s first provider of fully electric commercial vans. Its mission is to promote greener transportation in Nairobi, one of Africa’s most polluted cities, and to pave the way for critical investment in EV infrastructure. Sendy will begin to expand their inventory with electric four-wheelers to meet rising demand for shipments of freight weighing more than 500 kilograms. The benefits of operating an electric fleet include up to a 75% saving in fuel and maintenance costs, as well as a 77% drop in GHG emissions when compared to a petrol or diesel equivalent. By incorporating more cost effective and environmentally friendly vehicles into their fleet, Sendy will significantly reduce their carbon footprint and shield customers from rising fuel prices.
Impact of COVID-19 on Last Mile Delivery
The global COVID-19 pandemic led to a 25% rise in consumer e-commerce deliveries in 2020 alone. According to the World Health Forum e-commerce deliveries are expected to account for 78 percent of all global sales by 2030, triggering a 36 percent increase in the number of delivery vehicles in the world’s top 100 cities. The boom in urban deliveries is accompanied by rising expectations for shorter delivery times, so service providers need to find new and innovative ways to transport goods to their customers.
Vehicle Fleets pivotal to the e-mobility revolution
Harry Minter, Head of Renewables at Maris Ltd, META Electric’s parent company, says more attention needs to be given to innovative commercial vehicle models. “Passenger cars tend to receive the most attention when discussing a future free of fossil fuels. However, commercial vehicles, like those operated by Sendy, will play a pivotal role in the e-mobility revolution in Africa. Often unnoticed, fleet vehicles are central to all of our lives; they move the food we eat, the clothes we wear and even the medicines which keep us healthy. As such, the urban logistics sector in Kenya urgently needs to adopt new technologies and business models to limit climate change, which is disproportionately affecting the whole of Africa. By incorporating more cost effective and environmentally friendly vehicles into their fleet, together Meta Electric and Sendy can play a crucial role in helping Kenya tackle this challenge and reduce its GHG emissions by 30% by 2030 in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement.”
Transitioning vehicle fleets without prohibitive upfront costs
Since its launch in April 2021 Meta Electric has operated primarily on a rental model, due to the high cost of ownership associated with these types of vehicles. This enables small entrepreneurs and big corporations to transition their fleet without incurring prohibitive upfront costs, in order to benefit from lower running costs, lower CO2 emissions, lower pollutant emissions and improved brand value.
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