Johannesburg - The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has become the first higher education institution to introduce electric vehicle (EV) buses on its campuses.
On Wednesday, the university unveiled its new fleet of electric buses.
In what should be South Africa’s first encounter with transport innovation on SA campuses, the university said the new fleet had been well received by staff and students.
Masego Panyane, UJ’s media specialist, said the buses were the latest innovation in the university’s effort to lead and embrace green energy and reduce carbon emissions in accordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 defines green cities as those that are dedicated to achieving environmental, social, and economic sustainability, with a focus on minimising inputs of energy, water and food and drastically reducing waste, heat output, and pollution. UJ has, in recent years, made strategic moves to improve its sustainability footprint,” the university said.
Professor Andre Nel, the special projects adviser, said: “It started more than 18 months ago, as part of our drive to reduce our carbon footprint at UJ. We have always had a strong focus on sustainability issues.
“After implementing large numbers of solar panels, one of the next questions was: How can we further make UJ sustainable? After some research, the obvious answer was how we were going to cut our carbon emissions in one area, and that area was transport. Transport makes up about 4.5% of UJ’s footprint, and reducing that in any way is something we desire,” said.
In a country plagued by load shedding and with the government declaring the energy crisis a national disaster, UJ COO Dr Mpoti Ralephata said students and the general public should not be concerned because there was a solution.
He said 15% of the energy at UJ came from solar, which is enough to power the buses.
“We will have to have load shedding for more than five hours a night to affect overnight charging,” Dr Ralephata added.
The Star