Sudan’s Electric Rickshaws Cut Costs, Help Environment

Sudan’s Electric Rickshaws Cut Costs, Help Environment

Sudanese entrepreneur Mohamed Samir watches proudly as workers assemble garishly colored rickshaws, unique in the North African nation because they run on electricity in a bid to tackle soaring costs.

In Sudan, three-wheeler vehicles -- tuk-tuk rickshaws for passengers, and motorbike tricycles with a trailer attached for carrying goods -- have long been a popular and affordable transport. Tens of thousands ply the streets of the capital Khartoum alone, AFP said.

But with Sudan gripped by a dire economic crisis made worse by political unrest following a military coup last October, the cost of running petrol-oil engines has soared.

"People who use the fuel-run rickshaws are in pain, and they know the value of what we are offering," 44-year-old engineer Samir said at the factory in North Khartoum.

"We want to offer solutions."

There is a critical environmental impact too.

Smoky petrol-powered vehicles, aside from fueling climate change, cause "significant noise and air pollution", the United Nations Environment Program warned in a report from 2020.

"Emissions from the three-wheelers reduce visibility, cause damage to vegetation and lead to respiratory illnesses in people," it added.

Samir says the new electric vehicles check three boxes of the UN's sustainable development goals: the fight against poverty, protection of health and protection