Kwara State University, Malete, on Friday said it had signed deals with two Chinese firms to establish a gas-refilling station that would aid its on-going process of converting petrol engines to compressed natural gas (CNG) and electric vehicles.
This is just as it was announced that the state-owned transport corporation, Kwara Express, has presented 22 vehicles to the university’s Centre for Green and Sustainable Energy for conversion from petrol engine.
The vice-chancellor, Prof. Sheik-Lukman Jimoh, disclosed this while showcasing the university’s breakthrough in the conversion of petrol vehicles to CNG and electricity to news men in Ilorin.
He said already, the Centre had converted five vehicles from petrol to CNG and electric vehicles out of which two were owned by the university.
He said the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the Chinese firms would ensure the production of KWASU’s customised conversion kits to guarantee safety.
Jimoh said the proposed KWASU’s CNG centres and refilling station, when fully operational, would boost the Centre’s current converting capacity of six vehicles to more.
Showcasing some of the converted vehicles before newsmen, an expert in the university’s Centre for Sustainable Energy, Engr. Abdulazeeze Akande, said the cost of conversion was affordable ranging from N1.2 million to convert from petrol engine to CNG and N6 million to electric.