Lebanon, Indiana … Jim Messenger, a board member for the Malawi Project, took the new prototype for one last spin around the parking lot. As he approached the doorway of the staging area for the final time his words accented the value of the electric trike about to leave for its test performance in Malawi, on the African continent.
“This thing is awesome,” Jim declared as he exited the unit with what appeared to a bit of disappointment at seeing it leave. He recovered enough to add, “They are going to love this at Action for Progress, and it is going to have such an important value.”
The new bike prototype is the brainchild of Will Austin, the founder of the Institute for Affordable Transportation, an Indianapolis non-profit, a charitable group that constructs basic utility vehicles for emerging nations around the world. The trike prototype is the first of its kind of a new generation of affordable transportation vehicles for use in other parts of the world.
This unit was first mentioned in a January introductory story when the unit was turned over to Malawi Project board members for tested in Malawi. https://www.malawiproject.org/out-for-a-test-drive/