Africa’s transportation industry is set to develop as Ampersand, an e-mobility provider of sustainable transportation solutions in East Africa, and Bboxx, a platform that facilitates access to vital products and services, collaborate to expand in Rwanda.
The program had first experimented with in the nation, which now led to it being implemented in Kigali, Africa’s greenest city.
Over the next few years, there will be the provision of tens of thousands of e-motos (electric motorcycles) for taxi drivers in Rwanda.
The responsibility to finance the e-motos program has been taken up by Bboxx using its special asset financing AI model, and mobile payments will be handled by Bboxx Pulse, a fully integrated operating system that streamlines Bboxx’s business operations. While Ampersand has chosen to provide the e-motos and battery swaps.
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How Ampersand E-mobility Benefits Africa’s Economy
According to the two partners, Ampersand and Bboxx, the partnership aims to develop an alternative to using combustion-powered vehicles by allowing drivers to save up to 40% on purchasing their e-motorbike and operate their business at a lower daily cost than fuel vehicles.
This will help Rwanda towards achieving the country’s aims of reducing 4.6m tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2030 and becoming a carbon-neutral economy by 2050, with existing moto taxis currently the second biggest emitter of CO2, the equivalent to 32% of total emissions from road traffic.
The system will provide commercial opportunities for local communities using clean and sustainable technology, with the expectation that EVs will surpass ICE vehicles to become the main method of transport in the future.
Mansoor Hamayun, CEO and Co-Founder of Bboxx said, “This is an exciting opportunity for Bboxx, and we are delighted to be partnering with a like-minded company such as Ampersand. With Ampersand, we will increase access to sustainable mobility in Africa together. This is an exciting opportunity for both our companies as we share the same challenges, including achieving all the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
Josh Whale, CEO of Ampersand, said: “Electrifying African transport will take everyone doing what they do best. Bboxx’s experience in structuring financing instruments, including the rising tide of climate capital, will help us focus more on building the bikes and batteries, expanding our exchange network and creating the software. Over half of all East Africa’s road traffic is made up of motorbike taxis, providing a vital and affordable public transport service and source of employment in both urban and rural areas. And nearly all motorbike taxi drivers require financing to acquire their vehicles, and our electric motorbikes are no exception.
All this frees up Ampersand to focus on what we do best: building batteries, expanding our swap network, building software, building motorbikes, and doing all of this more and better every year. With strategic partnerships like this collaboration with Bboxx, we can help Rwanda to become the world’s first country to electrify more than half their entire road traffic, closely followed by other African countries, and ahead of countries like Norway.”
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Electric Motorcycle In Africa
Some estimates put the number of motorcycles in use on the African continent at around 20 million. Estimates also say around 5 million of these are in East Africa. Analysis report says that three times more motorcycles are imported annually into Sub-Saharan Africa than cars.
The majority of these motorcycles are used for commercial purposes, especially in the motorcycle taxi industry. So, motorcycles are a big deal in Africa, which is why the sector is attracting a lot of attention when it comes to electrification.
There are over 30 startups active in the nascent electric motorcycle sector spanning across the various regions on the continent. A lot of these startups have been running pilot programs over the past 3 or so years and are now working to ramp up their operations. Electrification of the motorcycle industry has attracted a lot of attention due to several reasons, such as a large addressable market. Africa’s fleet of motorcycles is expected to keep growing (motorcycles taxis & rise of the OnDemand and eCommerce sectors)
Also, it is anticipated that by 2040, 50-70% of all motorbike sales in this market will be electric, or about 4 million electric motorcycles a year.
Electric motorcycles are closer to price parity with ICE versions, unlike larger vehicles, where the upfront purchase price of electric cars is still much higher than equivalent ICE cars.
Furthermore, Motorcycles are the main source of employment for youth (under 35) and offer an immediate opportunity to transform lives in the sector through lower running costs thereby improving incomes.
Motorcycles are one of the main modes of transport in a lot of regions on the continent and therefore offer a big opportunity to lower CO2 emissions in the transport sector.