Kenya's electric motorcycle drive is boosted by battery swapping

Sets of strong, brightly labelled battery switching stations have sprouted up across Kenya's capital Nairobi in recent months, allowing electric bikers to exchange their low battery for a fully charged one.

 
It is the beginning of an electric motorcycle revolution in Kenya, where combustion-engine motorbikes are a cheaper and faster way to get around than cars but are 10 times more polluting, according to environmental experts.
 
East Africa's largest economy is banking on electric motorbikes, renewable energy, and its status as a technology and start-up centre to lead the region's transition to zero-emission electric transportation.
 
The battery switching method not only saves time, which is critical for Kenya's more than one million motorcyclists, the majority of whom ride for a living, but it also saves customers money because many vendors follow a model in which they keep ownership of the bike's most expensive component.
 
According to Steve Juma, co-founder of the electric bike startup Ecobodaa, "It doesn't make a lot of economic or business sense for them to purchase a battery, which would virtually double the cost of the bike."
 
By the end of 2023, Ecobodaa hopes to have 1,000 test electric motorcycles on the road, which it will sell for around $1,500 apiece. Because the battery is not included in the pricing, the price is nearly the same as that of combustion-engine motorcycles.
 
The electric motorcycle, which is built to be durable enough to go over bumpy roads, is less expensive to operate after the initial purchase than those that use gasoline.

Posted on : 09 May,2025 | News Source : ABNews

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