With great pride we present the latest partnership, between Emergi and Inholland Composites. This partnership is another building block to realise our ambition to introduce sustainable small electric vehicles in West Africa. The applied research at Inholland Composites is driven by their core values: creativity, sustainability and health. From an industry perspective, Inholland Composites links their research to themes that are relevant in the world surrounding us. Located within the Inholland Universities of Applied Sciences at Alkmaar and Delft, Inholland Composites is fully equipped with workshops, hot presses, laser cutters, test machines, 3D-printers, robot cells, laminating areas and an autoclave for advanced fiber reinforced composites manufacturing. The staff consists of highly educated and experienced professionals who have worked for many years in the civil-, wind- and aerospace industries. With the Innovation Studio, Inholland facilitates technical and sustainable driven projects performed by students. The philosophy of the projects start from the perspective of proof of principle, proof of concept and proof of product. During the innovative projects high-end techniques, material and design methods are used known from the Aeronautical Engineering discipline.
According to Eline Terneusen, Emergi’s head of communication and fundraising, this partnership enables us to push the boundaries of introducing electric kekehs in Liberia even further:
“In a country where charging infrastructure is scarce we need to innovate to make sure our drivers and their customers can have reliability they are looking for. Having Inholland Composites on board as a valuable partner means all the difference to us. Their experienced staff and students will develop a fully integrated bio-based fibre composite solar roof for Emergi’s electric kekehs. This means that the electric kekehs can charge during the day, making up for about ⅓ of energy needs daily, and drastically bringing down the energy costs. It also means that when they run out of electricity, a couple of hours in the sun means they can get on their way again! We are very excited to bring this innovation to Liberia and beyond!”
Arnold Koetje, program manager at Inholland Composites:
“We have had a couple of successes already with using natural fibers in lightweight monocoque structures, including a research project with a biobased electric scooter. Integration of solar cells in curved surfaces is often done on small- or experimental scale and still requires a lot of research to achieve higher maturity for wide market adoption. If you think about all the unused space on vehicles, there is a lot to be gained for the mobility market by using these smart materials. We believe in a sustainable world and really support Emergi’s ambition to enable Liberia to use solar powered electric vehicles.
For the pilot in Liberia Inholland Composites will initiate an applied research project for designing, building and testing a composite roof with integrated solar cells for the electric kekehs. We are very excited about this and hope to bring future innovations, through this partnership, directly to our products and for our customers and drivers in many more years to come.
