How Benin’s ECOZEM Is Using Solar Energy to Improve Local Transport

In Benin, entrepreneur Fèmi Tankpinou is exploring a cleaner way to move people around towns and communities.

Through his company, ECOZEM, he is developing battery-powered tuk-tuks and tricycles that can be recharged using solar energy.

Transport Powered by Benin’s Sunshine

Many people in Benin depend on small vehicles and motorcycles for their daily journeys.

However, conventional vehicles require fuel, which can be expensive and produces air pollution.

ECOZEM’s approach combines electric three-wheelers with solar charging. Instead of depending entirely on petrol or diesel, the vehicles use batteries that can be recharged with energy from the sun.

This could make local transportation cleaner while reducing dependence on imported fuel.

Designed for Everyday Journeys

Electric tuk-tuks are smaller and simpler than conventional cars. They can carry passengers through busy neighbourhoods and travel on roads serving rural and peri-urban communities.

Tankpinou told Global Citizen that the service has helped some students reach school more reliably, particularly in places where dependable transportation can be difficult to find.

The vehicles are also intended to be affordable to operate and easier to maintain. ECOZEM has reportedly used recycled metal in some of its locally made vehicles, adding another environmental benefit to the project.

A Practical Beninese Innovation

ECOZEM is not claiming to replace every vehicle on Benin’s roads. Its work demonstrates how electric mobility and solar power could provide practical transport for particular communities.

The initiative also shows that African entrepreneurs can adapt clean technology to local conditions instead of waiting for solutions designed elsewhere.

Tankpinou hopes the idea can grow within Benin and eventually reach other African countries.

From sunshine to everyday journeys, ECOZEM is showing how a locally developed transport solution could contribute to cleaner and more accessible mobility.

Could solar-powered transport become part of everyday life in more African cities and communities?

Source: Global Citizen