Ruto's Ksh1.7M Electric Car Which Used Ksh10 From State House To KICC

The tiny electric car that President William Ruto has been driving himself with during the Africa Climate Summit consumed just Ksh10 for the trip from State House, Nairobi to the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), setting a new precedence in terms of energy consumption and costs.

This is according to Green Africa Foundation owner Dr. Isaac Kalua, the parent company of the manufacturer Auto Pax Air Yetu, who during an interview on Citizen TV’s JKLive Show on Wednesday, September 6, noted that the rather short journey used only a portion of the 300-kilometre range available on a full electric charge.

On a full charge, the car takes about Ksh740, consuming Ksh2 per kilometre, something Dr Kalua hailed as a new era set by electric cars in terms of future transportation as well as cost-effective measures and potential to transform the industry.

He revealed that anyone driving the car uses Ksh90 for a 45-kilometre trip from Nairobi to Thika and Ksh708 from Nairobi to Kisumu.

As a result, the vehicle, Dr Kalua added, which is produced by Auto Packs Limited, received 314 orders in two days since Ruto sparked conversation by driving it himself to KICC during the three days of the ACS Summit, 100 of those orders being similar to the yellow car Ruto drove.

Autopax Air Yetu electric car is the product of a partnership between Kenyan EV company Autopax and Chinese automobile company SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) in Liuzhou, China and despite the original Wuling version price of up to Ksh3 million exclusive of tax, Dr Kalua revealed that this version will set one back Ksh1.7 million averagely.

On Ruto using the car, Dr Kalua revealed that  it was by sheer coincidence that the Head of State selected the now-popular Autopax Air Yetu as his ride of choice at the start of the ACS.

"We had no plans to have the president in that vehicle. On Sunday, the e-mobility Association of Kenya paraded vehicles and we were doing rounds in the city starting with City Centre,” he said.

“The President’s Advisor on Climate Change asked the details of the car. He termed it as extraordinary. Because I believe in prayers and we had just prayed about it, it ended up in State House."

He added that the car is produced by Auto Packs Limited, part of the Green Africa Group which the CEO is a 24-year-old girl.

He also dispelled claims that the choice of yellow for the car was politically motivated since it is synonymous with Ruto's United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party, instead exuding confidence that the company’s model which they had been working on for over seven years stood out among the rest.