Kenya’s electric mobility push is running into a new hurdle as the high cost of establishing battery-swapping stations slows expansion into rural areas, exposing the financial limits of a business model that has fuelled the sector’s rapid growth in major cities and towns.
Battery swapping has become the backbone of Kenya’s electric motorcycle industry, allowing riders to replace depleted batteries within minutes instead of waiting hours for them to recharge.
To extend these networks beyond urban centres, companies have increasingly turned to franchising. But the model is struggling to gain traction because of the high upfront investment required, threatening to slow the next phase of Kenya’s transport electrification.
In the recently launched E-Mobility Policy, electric motorcycles are expected to play a central role in cutting transport emissions, with electric two-wheelers targeted to account for at least 30 percent of all motorcycles by the end of next year and the entire fleet by 2050.
They currently account for less than 10 percent.
Spiro, which operates one of Kenya’s largest battery-swapping networks, has suspended its franchising programme as it seeks ways to reduce the minimum capital required from investors after finding that the cost had become a major barrier to uptake.
Of the company’s 416 battery swap stations, only 64, or about 15 percent, are franchise-operated, most of them in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. The company had hoped franchising would accelerate nationwide expansion, but prospective investors fell well short of expectations.
“Most of the people who were attracted to the programme could not, first of all, meet the bare minimum that we required. So we’ve put the [franchising] programme on hold for now, until otherwise advised,” said Rymond Kitunga, Spiro’s deputy country head for Kenya.
Under the model, franchisees were required to spend between Sh400,000 and Sh600,000 on civil and electrical works alone. They would also need to lease premises and hire staff, pushing the initial investment for a single swap station to about Sh1 million.
The capital requirement has proved too high for many of the small entrepreneurs the company hoped would spearhead the rollout of battery-swapping infrastructure outside major towns.
Becoming a motorcycle distributor required an even larger commitment. Investors needed at least Sh12 million in capital and were expected to recruit a minimum of 50 franchisees to establish battery-swapping and charging stations.
With franchising on hold, Spiro has instead relied on its own balance sheet to expand its network. Most of its swap stations remain concentrated in urban areas, with only limited coverage in rural Kenya, mainly in western counties.
“We’ve rolled out swap stations in mapped-out areas specifically to support where we are already doing commercial operations,” said Mr Kitunga. “We’re also partnering with several entities to ensure that the network spreads much faster.”
Among its partners are oil marketers Galana, Petrocity and Rubis, as well as the Catholic and Episcopal churches, which are leveraging their nationwide footprints to host battery swap stations.
Arc Ride is pursuing a similar strategy. The electric motorcycle manufacturer has deployed automated battery swap stations at selected TotalEnergies service stations and is seeking additional partnerships to expand its network.
Rather than relying on franchisees to establish full swap stations. Arc Ride installs its own automated battery-swap cabinets that allow riders to exchange batteries by scanning a quick response (QR) code. Even so, its network remains limited to Nairobi and Nakuru.
Some innovators are trying to reduce the cost of deploying swap infrastructure. In Kisumu, startup E-Safiri has developed battery swap stations powered by optoelectronic concentrators – high-efficiency solar technology that generates more electricity from fewer panels.
“For us to be able to give everybody access to EVs and charging networks, the most important thing is reducing the cost,” said Carol Ofafa, E-Safiri’s founder and chief executive.
The technology, developed by Ms Ofafa in collaboration with researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University, cuts the capital cost of establishing swap stations by more than half.
Within a year of adopting the technology, E-Safiri expanded its network of rural and peri-urban swap stations in Kisumu from four to eight. To further lower costs, it has also adopted automated battery swap cabinets similar to Arc Ride’s.
Electric motorcycles have so far driven Kenya’s e-mobility transition. Of the roughly 25,000 electric vehicles on Kenyan roads, more than 24,000 are motorcycles, accounting for about 96 percent of the total.
Yet expansion into rural Kenya – where motorcycles are the dominant mode of transport and an economic lifeline for millions – has lagged because of the slow rollout of charging infrastructure and limited electricity access.
But even if the cost challenge is overcome, another obstacle remains: battery interoperability.
Most manufacturers have designed their motorcycles to work only with their own batteries.
“The real barrier is actually in the standardisation of the battery itself,” said Ms Ofafa. “Each manufacturer is building batteries and battery management systems that are different, which makes it harder to have an interoperable network.”
The government plans to introduce common charging standards by June 2027, but Ms Ofafa argues that rural e-mobility will struggle to scale until batteries themselves become more interoperable: “The cell chemistry varies from one battery operator to the next, so you need to be extra careful in terms of standards, safety and usability,” she said.