JET Systems Wins Nigeria’s Electric Vehicle Company of the Year Award

Bennett  Oghifo

Jet Systems Automobile Industries Limited, a wholly Nigerian company, has said it is committed to championing Nigeria’s transition from combustion to electric vehicles. 

Jet Motor Company, which was founded in 2018 by a team of passionate professionals, started with its flagship brand, the Jet Mover, a multipurpose van, to push the acceptance and use of locally made vehicles.

However, the company said its main aim was the production of electric vehicles and after about three years of research, testing and iterative development, they were finally able to achieve their objective with JET EV.

This commitment to the future of electric mobility earned Jet Systems Automobile Industries Limited the Nigeria Auto Journalists Association (NAJA) ‘Electric Vehicle Company of the Year’ award on February 9, 2023.

Thus, Jet Systems electric vehicle is the first fully locally-made electric vehicle to run on the Nigerian road. The new electric vehicle was made to have zero emissions and is eco-friendly.

Recently, Jet Motor said they have seen the need to prepare the country and the continent for the future of mobility. In a bid to preserve the environment, the world is making a gradual shift from combustion engines to electric vehicles. 

The company said it also plans to introduce more products that would meet different needs of mobility options at a budget-friendly price, in addition to innovating to provide energy solutions as it relates to electric vehicles.

Reacting to his company’s emergence as the Electric Vehicle Company of the Year award, Sanjay Rupani, Director of Sales and marketing stated that, “We are delighted to have received the  Nigeria Auto Journalists Association (NAJA) award. We interpret this recognition as a challenge to accomplish more in terms of development and innovation.

He said Jet Systems has set out ambitious future plans to ensure that the transformation in the e- mobility space is intensified across Nigeria to promote the adoption of E-mobility and to educate the public on electric vehicles (EVs). “We will also encourage relevant stakeholders such  as governments at various levels, financiers, investors, general public, and the other assemblers to come together and develop the policies that will promote the systems.

“While the rest of the world is progressively phasing out combustion engine vehicles, Nigeria still depends heavily on fossil fuels. So, Jet Motor has seen the need to prepare the country and the continent for the future of mobility.

“We wanted to create a global product that is built to last. We were obsessed with getting it right because, if our vehicles can work well on Nigerian and African roads, they can succeed anywhere in the world. Generally, our testing has led us to see what is best for the Nigerian and African market and that is what we have built with Jet Mover.”

Rupani identified the target audience of Jet Electric Vehicles in the country to include all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government, corporate entities, schools, transport companies and other logistics support providers.

He expressed hope that some of the impediments towards vehicle electrification in Nigeria such epileptic power source, high cost of acquisition, lack of government initiatives to encourage and promote the adoption of EV and inadequate charging infrastructure can be addressed.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the company,  Oluwemimo Osanipin said automotive assemblers in Nigeria are challenged by inconsistent government policies as it relates to the auto industry, poor infrastructure for instance, the power supply.

The COO also frowned at the cost of funding in Nigeria which he noted is extremely high and as much as 28 percent  annually, adding that besides the current duty structure in the country that is unfavorable for assemblers, the hydra-headed problems of multiple taxes, porous border that facilitates the influx of gray importation remains a major concern that hampers auto assemblers’ bottomline.

He said the expectations of electric vehicle assemblers from the federal government should be to initiate policies that will encourage people to invest in EVs and also encourage their use. He also appealed to the government to offer consumers and assemblers incentives that will aid the speedy adoption of EVs, (both financial and non-financial), and for it to improve the policy that supports local raw material production and infrastructure.