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MUREZA Auto Company, is set to introduce its first ever Electric Vehicle (EV) next month, customised for Africa with the support of its two subsidiaries, Mureza Energy Company and Mureza Infrastructure Company.
The South Africa based Company is taking critical steps towards achieving its mission of being the leading car manufacturer in Africa by 2025. “Finally, the continent does not have to wait long for our EV models. We will present our first product, a Pick Up, in March 2021,” Mureza said in a statement.
This comes at a time when the International Automation Industry is on a race to dominate the EV market. Stocks of the EV makers have been souring this decade, with Tesla leading in the race due to some of its sophisticated technologies such as autopilot, long lasting batteries and superchargers.
Globally, the market size of EVs is anticipated to reach $912 Billion in 2026 according to a new study published by the Market Research Report. EVs are becoming more popular with governments since they emit less greenhouse gasses over their life than a petrol or diesel cars.
In a statement, Mureza highlighted that it is clear that the world is focusing on developing EVs and as an innovative company that looks to be globally competitive, they are preparing to launch their own EV line-up of products.
The Company CEO, Tatenda Mungofa appreciated the value of automation in the EV processes, adding that their strategy is to have a manual approach which is not only cost effective, but creates more employment.
He added that there would want to invest in the development of the best charging infrastructure network across 16 countries over the next 3 years.
“The main question asked is how EV’s will be charged in Africa if the continent does not have enough electricity to power homes?” he said.
“Africa has too much unused energy. The scientific community agrees that energy is neither created nor destroyed. It can only be converted into different forms. So, to charge an EV you need to convert either coal, natural gas, solar, wind or even nuclear substances into electric energy.
“Africa has plenty of fossil minerals and renewable energy sources to power the entire world for a very long time.”
Mungofa however attributed the hindrance of the adoption of EVs in Africa to the unwillingness of foreign brands to invest in the necessary infrastructure to support the roll out of such vehicles, adding that as Mureza, they are prepared to offer the correct African Solution to this problem.
“As Mureza, we have subsidiaries that focus on Energy and Infrastructure. Our Energy entity focuses on the energy storage, management and transfer between our vehicles and the charging infrastructure,” he said.
“We have portable energy storage and fixed energy storage products which will be unveiled soon.
“The Infrastructure entity focuses on design, construction and installation of state-of-the-art support structures that will allow us to transfer and store energy securely according to international standards. It is important to note that our charging stations will be able to feed back to the main electricity grid and thereby provide cheaper more sustainable electricity.”
“Through this subsidiary we plan to establish a vast network of 500 public charging stations across the SADC region initially. We have designed an easy-to-use charging station that requires a human operator to complete the charging process.”
Opportunities that comes with the development
“The advantage of African mineral resources is that their purity levels are higher and will result in more efficient EV batteries,” Mungofa pointed out. “Producing the batteries in Africa creates a new hub for battery technology development and the emergence of new more cost-effective suppliers for EV components.
With the support of global EV initiatives like ‘Battery Associates’, we are making sure that our standards are benchmarked with the international standards.”
Mungofa believes that Africa is very important in this new revolution and a key pillar in the global automotive value chain, and that Mureza is well positioned to actively bring electrification both to the vehicles and the continent.
The brand name Mureza, which is a Shona name for FLAG, is inspired by the desire of the company becoming the flagship of the African Automotive Industry.
February 16, 2021
Harare Zimbabwe
