Kenyan technology solutions start-up eWaka is entering the electric vehicle market in Rwanda. It plans to deploy 1,000 electric vehicles (bicycles and scooters) by 2024. The first phase will see 500 vehicles put into circulation in the city of Kigali from the end of December 2023. This will be done in partnership with the Rwandan company AC Mobility, which will provide its technological solutions.
“We are the leading provider of intelligent and interactive transport solutions in African cities, bringing efficient cashless payment systems to the mainly informal cash-based public transport system in emerging African cities,” says the technology platform, which also operates in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
eWaka’s ‘Shujaa’ electric bicycles, manufactured at its Nairobi factory, are equipped with two batteries with a total range of 120 kilometres and a front and rear luggage rack that can carry loads of up to 65 kilograms. The aim is to contribute to the development of sustainable urban mobility in East Africa, with more environmentally-friendly means of transport that improve air quality in urban areas and are less costly for drivers.
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This approach will certainly help to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels (petrol and diesel), which are responsible for air pollution in the region. This expansion in Rwanda and soon in other African countries by the company headed by Céleste Vogel has been facilitated by a loan of 500,000 Swiss francs (498,000 euros) granted in 2022 by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of the Swiss Confederation.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi