Electric motorcycles coming to Africa The motorcycle industr | Tech for Good
Electric motorcycles coming to Africa
The motorcycle industry is the single largest employer in Kenya, estimated to provide jobs for over 1.2 million youth. However, all 1.6 million motorcycles registered in the country still operate on gasoline, causing massive emissions and noise pollution.
A Swedish-Kenyan tech company Opibus changes this by creating its electric motorcycle priced equivalent with its gasoline counterparts. Earlier this year, Opibus closed a $7.5 million funding round, the largest ever for African electric mobility. And now, the company has partnered with Uber to deploy up to 3,000 electric motorcycles in Africa by 2022.
Opibus's electric bike has quite impressive specs. With a top speed of 90 km/h (~56 mph), it can accelerate 0-90 km/h in 5 seconds and has a 160 km (100 mi) range.
Motorcycles are popular in Kenya, especially among the youth who use them for work. Opibus's head of marketing and strategy, Albin Wilson, claims that their bike can lower the cost of running a motorcycle by almost 60% on fuel and maintenance: so many fewer parts that break on electric motorcycles, and the fuel price is ever-rising locally. That could be a big deal for the youth and a win for Opibus.
Article on Electrek
Opibus website
#EV #startups
