Uganda: Has joined a Pact with Electric Motorbike and Battery Trading Provider Mauto to Produce over 140,000 Electric Motorbikes and 3000 Swapping Centers

By Abdul Rahman Bangura–

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone- The electric motorbikes will be sold under the brand SPIRO, inaugurated in Africa in battery-swapping as a way to expand into ten nations by 2030. The corporation administrators last week approved an MOU with the administration of Uganda, which was resold by Minister of Works and Transport Gen Edward Katumba Wamala and Junior Finance Minister Hon. Henry Musasizi.

Shegun Adjadi Bakari – the CEO of SPIRO and partner at the African Fund for Transformation and Industrialization (ATIF), said the coalition with the Ugandan government was an “unprecedented step in the transition of African cities to more sustainable mobility.”

“This partnership, the first between an African government and a green mobility company on the continent, will create over 9,000 jobs.” he told.
Bakari confirmed that, they planned to set up an electric motorbike assembly plant in order to promote “made in Uganda”.

Under this partnership, Bakari said, SPIRO will deploy 140000 electric motorbikes into the Ugandan market over the following five years, as well as developing over 3000 restoring and battery swapping stations across the nation to finance this transition, which will primarily target “boda-boda”, motorbike taxi riders.

“Boda-bodas taxis presently account for more than 40% of travel flows in Kampala, and more in other cities across the country. By targeting these users, we are demonstrating our commitment to addressing the climate and health challenges posed by the pollution associated with our current modes of transport.” he told.

President Yoweri Museveni at the close of last year disclosed Government’s proposal to enable migration from petroleum-fueled vehicles, starting with the boda-bodas. This was at the time fuel prices hopped globally emerging the supply disturbance induced by the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Bakari said in the coming weeks, they will be undertaking liftoff a program to renovate conventional motorbikes with electric motorbikes, “as we are already doing in Benin, Togo, and Rwanda. Ugandan drivers will be able to hand in their old motorbikes and leave with one of our new electric models. This is a first in Africa.” he told.

SPIRO’s deployment relies on the assistance of investors such as ATIF, which has subsidized more than $50 million in the start-up. And today battery-swapping 130,000 trades from more than 250 operational battery-swapping stations per month across Benin, Togo, and Rwanda.

“Our motorbikes are specially designed and adapted for the African market and the swapping technology allows users to easily take with no range limits thanks to a battery swap station which takes 3 minutes to swap batteries, compared to the usual 3 hours for a standard charge.

The 4,500 motorbikes on the road have already traveled more than 22 million km with no CO2 emissions,” he said.

“Our ambition is to be the leading partner on the continent for countries that want to accelerate their transition to greener mobility. The signing of this agreement is a demonstration of our commitment to contribute to the vision of Uganda and its President, which places the migration from fossil fuels to electric transport as one of its priorities.”

For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports,  Africa Correspondent