Clean Logistics For Emerging African Nations

OX Global has developed a purpose-designed 3.5-tonne OX truck and a unique Electric TaaS (transport-as-a-service) business model which is currently being piloted in Rwanda. By eliminating up-front capital required for a truck, and enabling payment of only “what you need, when you need it”, a vast addressable market has opened up.  

With funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre, this project develops the technology to exploit this business opportunity by delivering two fundamental enablers: advanced, affordable EV technology, and a digital ecosystem to optimise operating costs and minimising capital expenditure. 

The innovations in this project include the development of advanced, affordable EV technology through UK localisation of EDU assembly and manufacture, battery cost and density optimisation, lightweight resilient structures, intelligent off-road traction, and an advanced end-to-end closed-loop digital ecosystem, all of which will optimise cost and efficiency.

The Coventry University contribution to CLEAN addresses both academic and industrial knowledge gaps related to the concept of digital twins (DT). This includes: the use of DT across the product life-cycle; definition of DT use-cases; technical implementation of DTs; and use of Asset Administration Shells (AAS) in complex DT use cases.

Clean Logistics for Emerging African Nations: CLEAN is focused on sustainable on-demand logistics for small businesses in the Global South who do not otherwise have access to affordable movement of heavy goods.

OX Global are owner-operators of a fleet of delivery trucks in Rwanda, transitioning to their own purpose-built electric vehicles to provide transport in challenging environmental and economic conditions.

An aim of CLEAN is to develop holistic 'digital twins' to support viability of this business model. These are virtual replicas of every individual truck that enable modelling and optimisation of factors affecting longevity and profitability of the fleet, such as vehicle health, cargo weight, and routes travelled.