BasiGo, an electric bus supplier, has inked a finance agreement with KCB Bank to expand operations in Nairobi following a seven-month test.
BasiGo, an electric bus supplier, has inked a finance agreement with KCB
Bank to expand operations in Nairobi following a seven-month test.
The Kenyan bank will issue a three-year credit facility covering up to 90% of the Sh5 million purchase price for the electric buses.
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The business, which began operations in Nairobi in March 2022 in conjunction with Citi Hoppa and East Shuttle, claims that the electric buses have travelled 90,000 kilometres and carried over 112,000 passengers.
According to the firm, it has received over 100 bookings for its K6 electric bus and plans to ramp up production next year, working with KCB to target passenger service vehicles.
“The key to getting electric buses on the road in Kenya is to make them affordable to PSV owners. The partnership we have signed today with KCB Bank is game-changing. It will allow bus owners to secure asset financing for an electric bus exactly in line with how they have been purchasing diesel buses.,” said Jit Bhattacharya, CEO and co-Founder at BasiGo.
Here Is What You Need To Know
- BasiGo offers electric buses either directly or through a leasing scheme, and the firm owns the bus’s battery.
- The battery is then leased to the PSV operator via a Sh20-per-kilometer Pay-As-You-Drive subscription.
- According to BasiGo, they decrease PSV operators’ risks by guaranteeing battery performance and providing all charging and maintenance for the vehicle.
- Electric vehicles are drawing the financial muscle of lenders looking to secure green funding while adhering to Environment Social Governance (ESG) laws.
- As a result of climate change activism and the rise in global oil costs, NCBA Group has established a Sh2 billion electric vehicle financing programme.
- Customers will benefit from asset financing of up to 80% of the entire cost under the five-year agreement.
- Furthermore, for electric vehicle loan applications received within the first 90 days, NCBA will offer a ten percent interest rate on a lowering debt.
- In addition to banks, E-mobility firms are utilising purchase now pay later companies such as M-Kopa and Watu finance for smaller motorbike and tuktuk units.
- Electric motorbike manufacturers are partnering with asset financing lenders to increase sales to boda boda riders in Kenya.
- Roam, a Swedish-Kenyan technology firm, has teamed up with M-Kopa to produce a fleet of motorbikes by the end of 2022, in time for broad deployment in early 2023.
- ARC Ride Kenya, which opened a factory in Kenya to produce 500 two- and three-wheeled electric scooters and bikes each month, also collaborated with MKopa and Watu finance to provide the product with flexible financing conditions.
- As firms like Arc Ride and BasiGo work to bring inexpensive electric vehicles to market, a new business is emerging: battery charging centres, which will eventually replace petrol stations.
- Kenya Power announced plans to build electric charging stations for households, companies, and the general public around the country as the transition to sustainable transportation gains traction.
- During off-peak hours, the electrical distributor claims to have enough power to charge 50,000 buses and two million motorbikes.
- To trial the charging stations, the state-owned power provider is looking for a company to create an e-mobility network infrastructure system (ENIS) in Nairobi and Nakuru.
- Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has recently erected an electric car charging station in Nairobi, joining other stakeholders in the e-mobility drive.
BasiGo electric buses BasiGo electric buses
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh