Africa, Land Rovers and EV – a sublime combination
Working with the Sarara Foundation to protect the Namunyak Community Conservancy
- Power
- 120kW
- Torque
- 310Nm
- CO2 per Mile
- 0kg
Sarara – Place of Peace
In the northern frontier of Kenya, in the heart of Samburu, lies Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy, an area of 850,000 acres of pristine wilderness in the Mathews Range. This remote landscape is home to the Samburu people whose age-old traditions are as much a part of the fabric of this land as the wildlife.
Our client, Sarara, operates a series of safari operations that form part of and support the work of the Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy. The story of Sarara has become a flagship model for conservation on community land across Africa, and continues to act as a model that improves livelihoods through the restoration and preservation of the environment.
Sarara has a fleet of Land Rovers that date from its beginnings – vehicles that taught everyone to drive, which hauled the supplies necessary to build and maintain the camps, and which now take guests through the beautiful Sarara valley. The Land Rovers were getting tired and in this remote area, diesel deliveries are not reliable. So Sarara decided to convert some of their Land Rovers to electric drive, powered by solar energy in this remote off-grid location.
The Land Rover conversions used two of the range of Electrogenic Land Rover kits – the E62 and E93 kits. Two Land Rovers were converted for taking guests on safari, using the smaller E62 kits, which deliver about 150 miles of range offroad while carrying a full complement of guests – more than enough for their daily use. A third Land Rover was converted using the more powerful E93 kit, which has a longer range and is used for more general tasks.
Robert Lemayian, General Manager of Sarara Camps is delighted with the upgrade. “As a community, we believe in green energy, and in time, we aim to transition all of our cars to electric power. There is immense value to the environment in that. The safari experience for guests is fantastic, as electric engines make far less noise than ones using fuel. It’s also less intrusive for wildlife, so guests can get closer, making for more vivid and memorable sightings.
“Our vision includes maximising our conservation and rangeland management efforts – and reducing our CO2 emissions supports this. It was easy to upgrade the Land Rovers as they were still structurally strong – and more planet-friendly to repurpose the existing ones too. Instead of buying new vehicles, it was also better to divert that money towards community projects. Another benefit is that it means there will be fewer motorised vehicles in the Sarara Valley.”
The converted Land Rovers have other benefits too. In this year’s rainy season they were the only vehicles moving – the sun keeps shining during the rains but the roads become impassable for diesel deliveries – so the electric Land Rovers can play an extra role in supporting the community during the rains.
Electrogenic’s technology also allows the Land Rovers to deliver 240V AC power – so electricity can now be delivered to anywhere it is needed in the valley, including powering whole mini-grids.
Excitingly, Sarara is so impressed by the Electrogenic technology that they have become one of our partners, providing EV conversion services for this beautiful part of Kenya.
Electrogenic is honoured to be associated with Sarara. Sarara points the way towards new narratives, not based on excess but on, equity and resilience. And the fact that the Sarara EV Land Rovers are entirely powered by solar is the icing on the cake.
Create the EV of YOUR dreams
Electrogenic conversion kits are designed to be fitted by a trained specialist with as little fuss as possible. We supply them to partner businesses around the world and our network is growing fast. A limited number of kits will be installed at our workshop in Kidlington. If you are interested in having one of our kits fitted to your vehicle or if you are interested in fitting them, please contact us.
