Reborn Electric Motor, Car Manufacturer From Chile, Turns Diesel Buses Into Electric Buses

Chilean electric bus. (photo: twitter @Sernageomin)

JAKARTA - Electric buses built by the Chilean company itself can now operate in the world's largest copper-producing country. Chile is currently looking for ways to reduce the use of fossil fuels and achieve environmental targets as soon as possible.

Reborn Electric Motor, located about 84 kilometers south of the Chilean capital Santiago, is now aiming to produce 200 electric buses a year. This amount is enough to prevent about 65.000 tons of carbon out of the atmosphere.

Chile's environment ministry is spearheading a new law that will bind the country to zero carbon emissions by 2050, in line with state-owned copper giant Codelco's previously stated goal of being copper neutral. The Reborn heavy-duty electric bus is already dropping off workers at Codelco's Teniente mine.

While Reborn builds buses from scratch, they also convert the existing diesel buses in operation into electric buses. The change process, according to the company, resulted in a sustainable and economical option.

"We took a diesel bus, took out the diesel motor, the diesel tank, and we installed a lithium ion battery and an electric motor and control system, and with that we got a zero-emissions bus at a much more affordable price," said Reborn co-founder Ricardo Repenning.

The company also hopes its efforts can help promote the industry outside of Chile.

"Our goal is for state-of-the-art technology to be produced from Chile and this technology to be used globally," said Felipe Cevallos, general manager of the company.