ABA Editorial · Oct 29, 2025 · 15 min read
Africa has approximately 25 to 30 million motorcycles serving as the backbone of urban and peri-urban transport, with nearly 99 percent still powered by combustion engines. Spiro, Ampersand, Roam, and a growing field of operators are electrifying the fleet through battery swap networks and purpose-built African designs. Spiro raised USD 100 million in October 2025, the largest e-mobility investment in African history. This report maps the category.
African e-mobility in 2026 is a story dominated by two-wheelers rather than cars. Africa has approximately 25 to 30 million motorcycles serving as motorcycle taxis (known as Boda-Bodas in East Africa and Okadas in West Africa), delivery vehicles, and personal transportation, with nearly 99 percent still powered by combustion engines. This massive installed base represents both a significant source of urban air pollution and noise and a substantial commercial opportunity for electrification. Over the last five years, a growing ecosystem of African-focused electric motorcycle manufacturers and battery swap network operators has emerged to address this opportunity, led by Spiro, Ampersand, Roam, and a field of smaller operators that have collectively built more than 100 companies across the continent. In October 2025, Spiro raised USD 100 million in the largest single investment in African e-mobility history, and the overall category has begun to show the combination of commercial traction and operational scaling that suggests durable growth ahead. This report maps the category as of early 2026.
Spiro has emerged as the largest operator in African electric two-wheelers by fleet size and deployment speed. The company, headquartered in Dubai with operations across six African countries (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Benin, and Togo), operates more than 80,000 electric motorcycles supported by over 2,500 battery swap stations and has completed more than 30 million battery swaps to date. Spiro raised USD 100 million in October 2025 in a round led by the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), the investment arm of Afreximbank. An additional USD 50 million in debt followed in February 2026 from Afreximbank, Nithio, and the Africa Go Green Fund. In total, Spiro has raised over USD 230 million in equity and debt since its founding in 2022, and earlier investors including Equitane and Societe Generale had previously committed over USD 180 million, bringing total capital raised to approximately USD 280 million.
CEO Kaushik Burman, who joined Spiro two years before the 2025 funding round from the Taiwanese battery-swapping company Gogoro, has described the company's model as built specifically for African realities. When Burman joined, Spiro had 8,000 electric bikes and 150 swap stations across Benin and Togo. The company then expanded across six countries and scaled battery swaps from 4 million in 2022 to over 27 million in 2025. Spiro has targeted 100,000 deployed vehicles by the end of 2025, representing a 400 percent year-over-year increase, and was named to the 2024 TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list.
In Kenya specifically, Spiro reportedly sold over 15,000 electric motorcycles in 2025, which would represent approximately 60 percent of the Kenyan e-motorcycle market. The company's Kenyan swap station network exceeds 400 locations.
Ampersand, founded in 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda, is often credited as the first company to commercialize electric motorcycles in Africa. The company focuses on the motorcycle taxi sector and operates a battery swap network across Rwanda and Kenya. Ampersand builds its own lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery packs in partnership with BYD for premium cell supply, designs its motorcycles in-house, and provides intelligent fleet-management software for commercial riders. The Alpha MK1 model, launched in 2025, is purpose-built for the motorcycle taxi market with rugged design, swappable LFP batteries, an AI-powered battery management system, and predictive software collecting 50 data points every few seconds to optimize battery lifespan.
Ampersand closed a USD 7 million financing round in late 2025 to expand its fleet to 13,000 motorcycles by the end of 2026. The company reports rider retention exceeding 98 percent and has partnered with Wylex Mobility to integrate Wylex's electric motorcycles with Ampersand's battery swap network across East Africa.
Roam Motors, founded in 2017 and headquartered in Nairobi (formerly known as Opibus), is a Kenyan-Swedish operator that emphasizes local manufacturing. The company operates Roam Park, described as the largest electric motorcycle assembly plant in East Africa at approximately 10,000 square meters with annual production capacity of up to 50,000 vehicles. Roam delivered 692 motorcycles in the first half of 2025 and supports over 3,000 entrepreneur customers.
The flagship Roam Air model was unveiled in its second generation in 2025, featuring two swappable batteries with total capacity of 6.5 kWh, range up to 180 kilometers, top speed of 90 km/h, and a reinforced frame supporting up to 240 kilograms of load. The Roam Air is priced around USD 1,500. In November 2025, Roam launched its Roam Point network, Kenya's first fast-charging stations for light electric vehicles, adding 10 to 20 kilometers of range in under five minutes using an open Type-6 connector. Roam motorcycles are already deployed through ride-hailing platforms including Bolt and Uber.
Beyond Spiro, Ampersand, and Roam, the African e-mobility category includes a growing list of operators serving specific markets and niches. ARC Ride in Kenya offers battery-as-a-service with swappable battery infrastructure. Bodawerk (now GOGO Electric) in Uganda manufactures electric motorcycles and lithium-ion batteries in Kampala. Kiri EV in Kenya develops motorcycles and swap infrastructure for the boda-boda sector. MAX (Metro Africa Xpress) in Nigeria has deployed electric motorcycles and swap infrastructure alongside its ride-hailing business. Dodai in Ethiopia, backed by Japanese investors, is deploying electric motorcycles and swap infrastructure. Kofa in Ghana develops battery swap technology. Smaller operators include Zembo, Safi Moto, Ecobodaa, Redvers Mobility, Siltech, and others. Over 100 companies now operate across the African electric two-wheeler sector, according to industry coverage.
The commercial case for electric motorcycles in African conditions rests on operating cost economics. Motorcycle taxi riders earn modest daily incomes and are acutely sensitive to fuel and maintenance expenses. Electric motorcycles with battery swap networks can reduce operating costs by 30 to 50 percent compared to petrol motorcycles, according to industry estimates. The battery-as-a-service model separates the battery from the vehicle purchase, reducing upfront cost to around USD 1,500 for many models (comparable to petrol equivalents) while shifting battery expenses to pay-per-swap operating costs that match rider cash flows. In Kenya, 15.3 percent of all newly registered motorcycles were electric in 2025, and the penetration is expected to continue growing through 2026 and beyond.
Three indicators will shape African e-mobility. First, whether Spiro's 100,000-bike deployment target is achieved and whether the company's unit economics support continued scaling beyond that milestone. Second, whether new markets beyond Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda, Benin, and Togo (particularly Ethiopia, Tanzania, Cameroon, and Ghana) see meaningful electric motorcycle deployment. Third, whether local manufacturing capacity (Roam's model) expands at a pace that reduces dependence on imported components and builds durable industrial capability. African e-mobility has moved from concept to commercial reality faster than most observers predicted, and the next two years will determine whether the category becomes a structural feature of the continental transport landscape or consolidates into a smaller number of dominant operators serving specific markets.