Abstract:

Minibus taxi public transport is a seemingly chaotic phenomenon in the developing cities of the Global South with unique mobility and operational characteristics. Eventually, this wide-spread fleet of minibus taxis will have to transition to electric vehicles. This paper examines the impact of this inevitable evolution on a city-wide scale in Kampala, Uganda. The authors present a generic simulation environment to assess the grid impact and charging opportunities, given the unique paratransit mobility patterns. The authors used floating car data to assess the energy requirements of electric minibus taxis, which will have a knock-on effect on the region’s already fragile electrical grid. This study also used spatio-temporal and solar photovoltaic analyses to assess the informal and formal stops that would be needed for the taxis to recharge from solar PV in the region’s abundant sunshine. The results showed that the median energy demand across all simulated days of the fleet of taxis was 220 kWh/d. This ranged to a maximum of 491 kWh/d, with a median charging potential (stationary time) across taxis of 8 h/d to 12 h/d. The median potential for charging from solar PV ranged from 0.24 kWh/m2 to 0.52 kWh/m2 per day, across the taxis. The instructive approach of this article should provide traffic planners and grid operators with a methodology to evaluate the impact of electric vehicle roll-outs in other regions of the world. The methodology can be adapted to suit mass roll-outs in developing countries and roll-outs in small, privately-owned fleets such as courier vans in a developed country.