Battery-swapping scheme powers Kenya's switch to electric motorcycles

Battery-swapping scheme powers Kenya's switch to electric motorcycles
Posted 6h ago

ARC Ride is one of the players in Nairobi pushing the region's shift to zero-emission electric mobility.(Reuters: Monicah Mwangi)


Over recent months, sets of sturdy, brightly branded battery swapping stations have cropped up around Kenya's capital Nairobi, allowing electric motorcyclists to exchange their low battery for a fully-charged one.

Key points:

• Electric motorbike startups are making significant inroads in Kenya
  
  
• Advocates say battery swapping saves drivers time and money
  
  
• There are plans to expand the model to Tanzania and Uganda

It is a sign of an electric motorcycle revolution starting to unfold in Kenya where combustion-engine motorbikes are a cheaper and quicker way to get around than cars, but environmental experts say are 10 times more polluting.

The battery swapping system not only saves time — essential for Kenya's more than one million motorcyclists, most of whom use the bikes commercially — but also saves buyers money as many sellers follow a model in which they retain ownership of the battery, the bike's most expensive part...

Ecobodaa has 50 test electric motorcycles on the road now and plans to have 1,000 by the end of 2023 which it sells for about $2,200 each — roughly the same price as combustion-engine bikes thanks to the exclusion of the battery from the cost.

After the initial purchase, the electric motorcycle — designed to be sturdy enough to traverse rocky roads — is cheaper to run than petrol-guzzling ones.



"With the normal bike, I will use fuel worth approximately 700–800 Kenyan shillings ($8.42—$9.62) each day, but with this bike, when I swap a battery I get one battery at 300 shillings," said Kevin Macharia, 28, who transports goods and passengers around Nairobi.

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More here:
https://amp.abc.net.au/article/101811270
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Interesting experiment. Cities in Africa are notoriously polluted and filled with traffic noise. Win/win?

 

Looks like a UN Habitat-subsidized initiative. Not necessarily a bad thing. The real test will be whether battery theft will overwhelm the business model.

 

Sounds like it might well be - Kenya is well situated as far as renewable power goes due to the geothermal resources in the Rift Valley. This will be an interesting experiment as I am unsure if people will battery swap or simply recharge