Solar-Powered Cart To Change The African Water Delivery Business

The Watt-r wants to offer a motorized, sustainable solution to the long journeys many African women have to take to carry water back home.

Source: Watt-r

The design, called Watt-r, aims at reducing the time that women and children spend collecting water in places like rural Africa. On average, a trip to get water in a developing country requires walking more than three miles round-trip, carrying a jug that weighs around 40 pounds on the way back. In areas affected by drought, the walk can be 15 miles or more.

The simple new cart, still in development, will likely carry a dozen 20-liter containers of water at a time, as an entrepreneur walks next to it. Solar power, not human power, will propel it forward. Instead of an engine, it will use a 150-watt electric bike motor, controlled with a simple throttle and tiller. When the entrepreneur stops in a village or city to sell the water, the cart can also double as a charging station for mobile phones or other small electronics.

The bike is designed only to travel at walking speed, in relatively flat areas, so it needs less power. The electric bike motor will run, as long as the sun is shining; because the target market is areas near the equator, there is ample sun most of the year. It doesn’t have batteries and doesn’t run at night, but people typically don’t gather water at night for security reasons.

Read full article: Fast Company

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Taxonomy

• Water Access
• Technology
• Water Supply
• Scarcity
• Water Scarcity In Desert area
• Drought
• Access
• Water & Sanitation
• Water Supply
• Sanitation & Hygiene
• Water Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH)