Rwanda Set To Replace All Gas-Powered Motorcycle Taxis With Electric Motors
This will be a major turning point for startups focused on motorcycle taxis in Africa. They will have to begin to shift away from gas-powered motorcycles towards electric type ones to remain sustainable in the future. Nigeria’s MAX.ng may have seen the future here. Rwanda particularly is leading a campaign to eliminate all gas motorcycles in its taxi sector in favour of e-motos.
“We will find a way to replace the ones you have now. We urge taxi-moto operators to help us when the phase-out process comes,” Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s President was quoted as saying at a youth forum.
Here Is Thew Deal
- Although Paul Kagame previewed the plan last week, the Director General for the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority Patrick Nyirishema has confirmed Kagame’s comments were ahead of a national e-mobility plan in the works for the East African nation.
- The national mobility plan will be a set of national policy-guidelines aimed at eliminating gas motorcycles in Rwanda’s taxi sector in favor of e-motos.
“The president’s announcement is exactly the policy direction we’re in…it’s about converting to electric motos…The policy is prepared, it’s yet to be passed..and is going through the approval process,” Nyirishema said in an interview.
- This move is however just a speck of more to come. Rwanda’s strategy is to eliminate all gas-powered transport vehicles within the country. Nyirishema said the country will start with public transit operators, such as moto-taxis, and move to buses and automobiles.
“Once the policy is out, we’ll no longer permit any motorcycle that is not electric to be added to a fleet,” Nyirishema said, adding that the country’s regulators will need to create an appropriate transition period and program for taxi operators to move to e-motos.
According to The New Times estimates, there are 20 to 30 thousand motorcycles operating in the capital of Kigali.
A Look At How Gas-Powered Motorcycles Are Suddenly Sitting On The Edge of Disappearance in Africa
MAX.ng
MAX.ng recently raised a $7 million funding round led by Novastar Ventures, with the participation of Japanese manufacturer Yamaha. Things are going to be interesting. Backed by the new funding MAX.ng is going for a shocker, a history-breaking feat: electric motorcycles. This could be a first in Africa’s growing motorcycle ride-hail market. The new funding will go into Electric Vehicles development.
“We’re piloting electric motorcycles in partnership with EV manufacturers and working with grid operators across Nigeria to deploy charging stations,” MAX.ng CFO Guy-Bertrand Njoya said.
Ampersand
Another startup that is going for electric vehicle is Ampersand. The Rwandan venture has already begun to pilot Electric Vehicles (EVs) and charging systems in Rwanda.
The company has worked with a feasibility study for implementing electric vehicles across Rwanda since last year, according to CEO Josh Whale.
“We’ve also got a grant from the government…and it’s been tied in really well with the feasibility study,” he said in an interview.
Ampersand has shaped its own e-motorcycle model, building the batteries and fitting them into new motorcycle chassis imported from Asia. To keep the taxi-moto riders consistently moving — vs. delayed while recharging — the startup has developed a battery swapping system and station.
Ampersand CEO Josh Wale sees electricity changing the micro-economics of motorcycle taxi markets. He estimates taxi riders in Rwanda spend $2000 a year on fuel and oil-charges for their gas machines.
“Looking at it from a driver point of view, from day one they are paying less for the bike and the battery by going electric,” he said.
Cango
One motorcycle ride-hail startup that has been testing Ampersand e-moto is Cango. Founded in 2015, the company has app-based, on-demand taxi-moto fleets in Rwanda and Congo.
“We intend to be among the first to switch our fleet, as the [Ampersand] bikes are ready,” Cango co-founder Barrett Nash said in a interview.
The motorcycle startup ecosystem has received a lot of attention from VCs in 2019.
Nigerian Lagos-based on-demand motorcycle taxi app Gokada recently proved to be up to the game. The startup raised US$5.3 million in Series A funding with a plan to expand the number of its motorbikes and available drivers, increase its daily ride numbers as well as grow its team.
This was closely followed by MAX.ng which raised a $7 million funding round led by Novastar Ventures, with the participation of Japanese manufacturer Yamaha. Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Zrosk Investment Management, and Alitheia Capital joined Novastar Ventures and Yamaha in the $7 million round. The new funding takes MAX’s total funding to $9 million.
OPay is just a year old in Nigeria, but the startup is already making waves. Nigerian road users would be familiar with the green livery motorbike hailing startup ORide, which is a part of the OPay business. Founded by Norwegian browser company Opera, OPay, the Africa-focused mobile payments startup also recently raised $50 million in new funding. OPay intends to use the capital (which wasn’t given a stage designation) primarily to grow its digital finance business in Nigeria — Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy. OPay will also support Opera’s growing commercial network in Nigeria, including its motorcycle ride-hail app ORide and OFood delivery service.
Another local moto-taxi venture — Uganda’s SafeBoda — received outside capital in a Series B round co-led by the venture arms of Germany’s Allianz and Indonesia’s Go-Jek.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.