{"id":1666803,"date":"2022-09-30T14:06:47","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T18:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1666803"},"modified":"2022-09-30T14:08:39","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T18:08:39","slug":"e-moped-firm-out-to-win-over-west-africas-sceptical-moto-taxi-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/e-moped-firm-out-to-win-over-west-africas-sceptical-moto-taxi-drivers\/","title":{"rendered":"E-moped firm out to win over West Africa\u2019s sceptical moto-taxi drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fe-moped-firm-out-to-win-over-west-africas-sceptical-moto-taxi-drivers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1666803&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>By Pulcherie Adjoha and Seraphin Zounyekpe<\/p>\n<p>COTONOU (Reuters) \u2013     Shrouded in exhaust fumes, Arouna Gdamassi slid silently among the motorcycles swarming through rush hour traffic in Benin\u2019s commercial capital Cotonou.<\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1\">\n<\/div>\n<p>The 40-year-old informal trader is the proud new owner of an electric two-wheeler made by India-based company M Auto, which launched bikes in West African neighbours Benin and Togo this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is very practical. Less noise, less pollution,\u201d said Gdamassi, perched on his green and yellow electric moped as other mopeds bumped over the rocky road behind him.<\/p>\n<p>M Auto has sold over 2,000 e-mopeds in West Africa since May and aims to have more than 15,000 on African roads by year-end.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wanted to start in West Africa because there is already this culture of two-wheel transport,\u201d said M Auto CEO Shegun Bakari, who estimates that some 80 million Africans are regular motorcycle users.<\/p>\n<p>Rising fuel prices and concerns over deteriorating air quality in urban centres are fuelling demand for electric two-wheelers among commuters, M Auto says.<\/p>\n<p>When the battery runs low, riders do not have to stop and recharge but simply replace it for 1,000 CFA francs ($1.45) at one of M Auto\u2019s 14 swapping stations in Cotonou.<\/p>\n<p>But while private users are taking the bait, the established army of moto-taxi drivers that carry residents around the city is proving harder to convince.<\/p>\n<p>Some were concerned about having to plan routes around battery points rather than filling up from contraband petrol vendors found on almost every street corner.<\/p>\n<p>David Sodjo, 30, noted that a full tank of petrol would cost him 3,900 CFA francs ($5.65) on the black market and last at least four days \u2013 far longer than an M Auto battery, which dies after around 100 kilometres.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI could buy it for my wife to go grocery shopping,\u201d said the taxi driver. \u201cIt is pretty, but I think it is more for leisure than work.\u201d     <\/p>\n<p>($1 = 689.9400 CFA francs)<\/p>\n<p> (Reporting by Pulcherie Adjoha and Seraphin Zounyekpe; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Estelle Shirbon, Alexandra Hudson)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/uncategorized\/e-moped-firm-out-to\/attachment\/m-auto-company-to-launch-two-types-of-electric-motorbikes\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8T10M-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8T10M-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/uncategorized\/e-moped-firm-out-to\/attachment\/m-auto-company-to-launch-two-types-of-electric-motorbikes-2\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8T10N-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8T10N-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/uncategorized\/e-moped-firm-out-to\/attachment\/m-auto-company-to-launch-two-types-of-electric-motorbikes-3\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8T10O-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8T10O-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/uncategorized\/e-moped-firm-out-to\/attachment\/m-auto-company-to-launch-two-types-of-electric-motorbikes-4\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8T10P-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8T10P-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/uncategorized\/e-moped-firm-out-to\/attachment\/m-auto-company-to-launch-two-types-of-electric-motorbikes-5\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8T10Q-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8T10Q-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Pulcherie Adjoha and Seraphin Zounyekpe COTONOU (Reuters) \u2013 Shrouded in exhaust fumes, Arouna Gdamassi slid silently among the motorcycles swarming through rush hour traffic in Benin\u2019s commercial capital Cotonou.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1666803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1666803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1666803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1666803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1666803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}