Ampersand will put 600,000 electric motorbikes on the roads of East Africa by 2030. This fleet will be deployed to develop low-carbon transport that will reduce air pollution in East Africa.
Mobility start-up Ampersand wants to accelerate the development of electric mobility in East Africa. To this end, the company recently announced the deployment of 600,000 electric motorbikes over the next few months. The two-wheelers will initially be used in Kigali, Rwanda, where the company is based, as well as in Nairobi, Kenya, and Kampala, Uganda.
Ampersand already claims 35,000 battery swaps per month and a fleet of about 620 electric motorbikes. “Going electric will double a driver’s income and facilitate a zero-carbon future on our roads,” says the company set up in 2019.
To implement the project by 2023, Ampersand will collaborate with digital platform M-Kopa, which specialises in e-asset financing, the energy solutions provider, as well as French giant TotalEnergies, with whom it recently installed three charging stations at its Hurlingham, Dagoretti and Mountain View stations in Nairobi.
Ampersand also receives financial support from the United Nations Habitat Organisation (UN Habitat) and the German International Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ). These development partners support ecological mobility programmes in Africa, in this case the training of young girls to drive electric vehicles initiated in Rwanda by Ampersand.
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In the second half of 2022, the start-up led by Josh Whale has signed an agreement with the British solar home systems provider Bboxx to strengthen the sale of its electric motorbikes. As a result, the bikes will be financed through Bboxx’s mobile payment solutions, including the ‘Bboxx’s Pulse’ app. This is a fully integrated pay-as-you-drive operating system that streamlines the business operations of Ampersand’s customers.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi
