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| The next challenge for the new Ox Delivers team is to make a battery pack that is Africa proof. |
When Witness Wheels first published news of the OX back in 2016, readers showed a lot of interest in this “made Africa tough” vehicle.
The tough little OX truck was penned by Durban-born supercar designer Gordon Murray after he was co-opted by philanthropist Sir Torquil Norman, who founded the Global Vehicle Trust (GVT) to design “cost-effective mobility” for people in the developing markets. We reported on Murray saying of all the vehicles he designed, he is proudest of the OX, and with good reason, for he managed to build a small truck that goes on two driven wheels where few 4x4 SUVs can follow.
Murray, who is famously averse to adding weight to his designs, used balance, high ground clearance and his patented fully independent OXGlide suspension to ensure excellent off-road capability for the truck.
Murray said the OX provides three times the capacity and twice the payload of comparably sized light commercial vehicles, and proved this with durability and reliability trials at the renowned Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire in the UK as well as at the IDIADA Test Facility in Catalonia, Spain, and finally, with a journey across India.
The truck is designed with a multi-purpose load bin than can carry 1 900 kg or comfortably seat up to 13 people, or fit eight 166-litre (44-gallon) drums, or three Euro-pallets.
The OX’s cabin provides spacious accommodation for three people, and the driver is seated centrally to allow the OX to be driven on left- and right-hand drive roads.
‘Maas’ instead of sales
In the five years since, the OX project has virtually gone underground — until Tuesday, when the Warwickshire-based “social impact start-up” released a flurry of tweets to update on all the recent developments with the OX.
Apart from having grown from one member to 13 who call themselves “OX Delivers”, the start-up has in the past four months secured three grants with a total project value of £1,2 million (over R24 million) to work on separate projects with Potenza Technology and Penso to fast track the delivery of the world’s first clean transport ecosystem.
“Clean transport” means doing away with the fossil-fuel burning engine from a Ford Transit and making the OX all electric.
While electric vehicles are cheap to run and maintain, the high sales price of battery packs has kept sales low in Africa. This poses no problem for the OX start-up, which looks to fractional ownership instead of selling the truck, with a pilot project starting in Rwanda.
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| Note the jerry cans, luggage racks and central mounted steering wheel in the Ox’s cab. |
“Vehicle ownership in emerging markets is rare and expensive. Therefore, OX will primarily be operating as a Mobility-as-a-Service (Maas) platform,” OX Delivers tweeted.
It explained the aim is to set up mobile platforms that will enable small business owners to request the services of an OX, using a 2G phone, which comprise 80% of all mobile phones in Rwanda.
The new staff at OX Delivers are currently working feverishly to assemble a demonstration electric OX for the Cenex LCV event, billed as the UK’s premier low carbon vehicle event, from September 17.
OX Delivers said in a statement “a new affordable zero-emission truck could form the basis of an Uber-style ‘transport ecosystem’ in emerging markets”.
As well as being zero-emission, the small electric truck is forecast to be 30% cheaper to run per ton over 20 years than a diesel drivetrain with similar power.
‘Significant’ empowerment’
The start-up hopes the electric OX and Maas system will lead to “significant opportunities to empower businesses and individuals”, such as providing farmers in rural areas with an economical way to transport and sell crops for higher prices in cities.
They said the demand for such empowerment is huge, with some three billion people lacking access to basic transport provision in developing markets around the world.
The pilot project in Rwanda starts in April and the OX team will work with local communities to gain an understanding of customer needs and demand.
Part of the R24 million grant will be used in the UK to redevelop the basic truck cabin to meet UK legislation to also offer the cheap truck to UK’s infamous van drivers.
Murray had designed the OX with three seats and a central steering wheel to enable driving on either side of the road.
Penso’s specialist engineering team will lead redesign and market certification of the truck to meet strict British legislation.
Potenza Technology will develop the battery pack for the truck, which will have to function in monsoon floods, over deep, muddy roads and in hot, humid conditions.
And to answer the two questions most Wheels readers asked — “how much?” and “where to order?” — the OX is still not for sale, but potential buyers can register their interest on www.oxdelivers.com.
