Alternet System Inc. (OTC Pink: ALYI) has confirmed the release of the final comprehensive results of the Goldman Small Cap research survey on its African Cryptocurrency fundraising strategy. The ICO will be launched and managed in partnership with IW Global, a well-established tech firm that has previously worked on projects for NASA and is experienced with Ethereum, the platform on which the ALYI crypto will be built.
The company, which deals in sustainable energy solutions for vehicle and military applications, is in the process of setting up a local manufacturing facility in Kenya to serve the African market. In 2019, Revolt Electric Motorcycles, a subsidiary of Alternet Systems, announced $1 million in confirmed orders from a ride-sharing client to be delivered to Kenya and another $20 million prospective order, part of an overall deal that included the company’s commitment to opening a plant in the country. The company is aiming at tapping into the electric vehicle potential in the continent.
Ridesharing is not something new to Africa. If anything, it has been happening long before the concept was introduced to other parts of the world by mobile apps. This phenomenon, according to research, is due to the low income in the region. The inability to own a vehicle by a large population in the continent and the continuous search for cheaper transport are the driving forces for the ride-sharing market in the region. In Kenya, motorcycle taxis, locally known as Boda Boda, are already an accepted cultural norm with companies like Uber and Bolt (formerly Taxify) having launched motorcycle hailing apps. This trend suggests that the market is ripe for low-cost electric vehicles.
ALYI Hemp Battery and Auto Body Initiatives
Alternet Systems Inc. announced plans for its hemp battery for cars initiative early last year in reaction to the passage of the 2018 Farm Act, making hemp a legal agricultural commodity in the United States. This news comes as the electric vehicle battery market is expected to reach $93 billion by 2026. The dramatic increase is likely fuelled by the increasing demand for electric vehicles and government bodies pushing for environmentally friendly solutions to reduce high emission levels. ALYI’s research on the hemp batteries seeks to provide a cheaper and more reliable option than lithium-based batteries.
The company had earlier partnered with Clarkson University Professor David Mitlin to lead the project. Professor Mitlin is an expert in electrochemistry and a pioneer in the use of hemp as a renewable and environmentally friendly energy. In 2004, Dr. Mitlin and researchers at the National Institute for Nanotechnology were able to build hemp-based supercapacitors that outperformed the typical graphene supercapacitors by almost 200% in energy storage. If this initiative is successful, Alternet will be able to offer hemp battery-powered vehicles and energy storage solutions for military applications. However, its first product now is lithium battery motorcycles.
ALYI has engaged Nouveau Inc., a hemp farming company that seeks to find new industrial applications for the plant, to provide hemp fiber for its supercapacitor developments. In October last year, ALYI announced that the processing work had begun on their first legal US hemp harvest. The material will also go to the development of their prototype car body they had announced in September 2019 in partnership with Nouveau. The ALYI announced a comprehensive electric vehicle initiative that includes electric delivery vans made from hemp fiber for the rugged African terrain.
The hemp electric delivery announcement was made before Amazon’s order of 100,000 electric delivery vehicles and its CEO’s commitment to have its delivery fleet run entirely on renewable energy. ALYI management considers Amazon’s direction as a strong validation of its strategy. ALYI’s hemp electric delivery vehicle is set to run on the hemp battery that they are currently developing.
A hemp car body is not farfetched, as shown by other past successes. In 2016, Bruce Michael Dietzen made a sports car whose body was made entirely of hemp. In a New York Post article, Dietzen claims that the body is at least ten times dent resistant than a steel body. Another vehicle utilizing the hemp body is the BMW i3, its door panels are made of hemp mixed with plastic, helping lower the weight of each panel by about 10%.
