Outright owning electric motorcycle and battery is becoming a reality for riders with the latest financing collaboration involving 4G Capital, Mastercard Foundation and Roam.
For starters, almost all electric motorbikes in Kenya and across most of Africa rely on battery leasing and swapping technology.
There are tens of battery recharging stations spread across Nairobi and other cities, not just in Kenya but also in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.
Once riders deplete the power in their leased batteries, they drop them at recharging stations where they swap with already full batteries, all within a span of about two minutes. This saves time as the alternative would be to stop everything they should be doing in order to recharge a depleted battery.
But things are getting even better…
Riders to own electric bikes and battery
On March 19, 2025, EV startup Roam and financier 4G Capital announced a partnership aimed at accelerating the adoption of electric bikes.
The game changing partnership that targets youth and women entrepreneurs in the bodaboda and courier/delivery industries has three key factors:
- 4G Capital financing will only require the rider to have a deposit of KES 25,000 to get an electric bike and battery.
- The riders will repay their loan within 24 months, after which they will outrightly own the electric motorcycle and battery.
- Riders have an option of buying a second battery with an extra KES 5,000 on the deposit.
This is why this is a game changer. Acquiring Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) bikes under loan programmes cost almost the same amount.
Roam’s partnership has set the repayments at KES 460 per day (taking an extra battery will add KES 207 on the daily payments). Comparatively, ICE motorbike loans require the riders to pay at least about KES 360 per day.
The difference comes in fuelling expenses, where electric bike riders do not have any costs for at least 80KM before recharging their batteries on the low of KES 80. For the same amount of KM, ICE riders will cough up an extra KES 500 on the low for petrol, making ICE more expensive.
We are likely to see more electric bikes on the road
Apart from high upfront costs that appear to be coming down with such programs, every EV owner’s worry has been the lack of recharging stations over long distances.
Roam Air’s portable charging feature means that riders do not have to worry about being able to access battery swapping stations, as they can recharge their batteries anywhere.
Secondly, the idea of owning a second battery makes it even more convenient. You can confidently ride from Nairobi to Naivasha or even Nakuru without a power incident along the way.
What this means is that there is a likelihood of higher uptake of electric bikes across Kenya, not just in Nairobi but also in the countryside where riders cover longer distances per trip.
While the Mastercard’s Jiinue Growth Program targets entrepreneurs, it wouldn’t be a surprise for private riders to join the bandwagon in sustainable riding.
The foundation’s program runs ends in 2027, if you are an entrepreneurial rider, take advantage of now.
