Minibus taxi public transport is a seemingly chaotic phenomenon in the developing cities of the Global South with unique mobility and operational characteristics. Eventually this ubiquitous fleet of minibus taxis is expected to transition to electric vehicles, which will result in an additional energy burden on Africa's already fragile electrical grids. This paper examines the electrical energy demands of this possible evolution, and presents a generic simulation environment to assess the grid impact and charging opportunities. We used GPS tracking and spatio-temporal data to assess the energy requirements of nine electric minibus taxis as well as the informal and formal stops at which the taxis can recharge. Given the region's abundant sunshine, we modelled a grid-connected solar photovoltaic charging system to determine how effectively PV may be used to offset the additional burden on the electrical grid. The mean energy demand of the taxis was 213kWh/d, resulting in an average efficiency of 0.93kWh/km. The stopping time across taxis, a proxy for charging opportunity, ranged from 7.7 h/d to 10.6 h/d. The energy supplied per surface area of PV to offset the charging load of a taxi while stopping, ranged from 0.38 to 0.90kWh/m² per day. Our simulator, which is publicly available, and the results will allow traffic planners and grid operators to assess and plan for looming electric vehicle roll-outs.

小巴出租车公共交通在全球南方的发展中城市中是一种看似混乱的现象，具有独特的流动性和运营特点。最终，这种无处不在的小巴出租车预计将过渡到电动汽车，这将给非洲已经脆弱的电网带来额外的能源负担。本文研究了这种可能演变的电能需求，并提出了一个通用的模拟环境来评估电网影响和充电机会。我们使用 GPS 跟踪和时空数据来评估 9 辆电动小巴出租车的能源需求以及出租车可以充电的非正式和正式停靠点。由于该地区阳光充足，我们模拟了一个并网太阳能光伏充电系统，以确定如何有效地使用光伏来抵消电网的额外负担。出租车的平均能源需求为213kWh/d，平均效率为0.93kWh/km。出租车的停车时间是充电机会的代表，从 7.7 小时/天到 10.6 小时/天不等。为抵消出租车停车时的充电负荷而提供的单位光伏表面积能量，范围为 0.38 至 0.90kWh/m每天²个。我们的模拟器是公开可用的，其结果将使交通规划者和电网运营商能够评估和计划即将推出的电动汽车。