Afrobeats Superstar Davido & Spiro Collaborate to Launch New Range of Electric Motorcycles for Africa

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Last Updated on: 17th May 2025, 10:09 am

The Afrobeats music genre has grown tremendously over the past two decades to become a global mainstream phenomenon. For example, I was pleasantly surprised a couple of years ago when we had dinner at a restaurant in Washington, DC, and they played quite a lot of Afrobeats. It was pretty cool for me because it was a normal American restaurant and not an international one that specifically targets international music lovers. The Afrobeats genre is also known in some circles as Afro pop or Afro fusion. Some of the superstars in this genre include Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Davido, who all coincidentally hail from Nigeria. Davido is considered to be one of the leaders in the Afrobeats genre and one of the artists that played a pivotal role in taking Afrobeats around the world.

Afrobeats became a global phenomenon after growing organically on the African continent as well as finding a lot of love from the African diaspora. So, literally hundreds of millions of people of the African continent enjoy the Afrobeats movement. The majority of these fans are young people, and this age group is part of the largest demographic on the African continent. A lot of countries on the African continent face high unemployment rates. A good number of youths find employment or earn an income directly or indirectly in the motorcycle taxi industry. There are about 30 million internal combustion motorcycle taxis in Africa, predominantly along what is now known as the boda belt. The boda belt, a term coined by Tom Courtright, is a stretch of countries on the African map where motorcycle taxis have been prominent over the years. This belt stretches from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal. There is also significant activity in North African countries such as Morocco, where smaller scooters are used mainly for personal transportation — unlike in East Africa and West Africa, where most of the activity is for commercial transport purposes.

The large addressable market presented by the motorcycle taxi industry has attracted significant investment in the electric motorcycle sector across several countries. One of the leaders in this space is Spiro. Spiro operates battery swapping infrastructure for its electric motorcycles in 8 countries in Africa. Spiro says it intends to transform the African economies through substitution of expensive, imported fossil fuel–based transportation into affordable and accessible electric mobility solutions locally made in Africa, by Africans, for Africa & the world. So far, Spiro says its bikes have achieved over half a billion kilometres of CO2-free travel and crossed 20 million battery swaps. Spiro now operates over 600 battery swapping stations with more than 30,000 electric motorbikes in circulation.

Spiro wants to take it to another level by creating products that connect with the youth whilst at the same time attracting a new connection with electric bikes for traditional fans of high end motorcycles on the African continent. Therefore, Spiro has just unveiled a new collaboration with Afrobeats superstar Davido. This was one of the major announcements around a series of strategic developments on the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum 2025. Spiro says its newest initiatives reinforce its commitment to industrial transformation, technological innovation, and sustainable development across Africa. Spiro says the collaboration with international artist Davido will help raise awareness and boost electric vehicle adoption.

During the Forum, Spiro unveiled a new generation of electric vehicles, developed in collaboration with international music artist and entrepreneur Davido, who serves as a brand ambassador and strategic partner. Leading the lineup was the Davido Collectible, a limited-edition model alongside Alpha+ by Davido. The Davido Collectible edition has a 12 kW motor providing 320 Nm of torque. It has a top speed of 130 km/h and can accelerate from 0 to 40 km/h in under 40 seconds. It has a range of 250 km, enabled by “a high performance” NMC-based battery. Spiro didn’t state the energy capacity of the battery pack. It also comes with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

The Aplha+ has a 12kW Votol motor, has 320 Nm of torque, accelerates from 0 to 40 km/h in under 40 seconds, has a top speed of 105 km/h, and has a range of about 100 km. Spiro says these new launches highlight Spiro’s capability to provide market-relevant solutions tailored to diverse customer segments. These new electric lifestyle motorcycles are an addition to Spiro’s lineup of “workhorse” electric motorcycles for the motorcycle taxi industry.

“When I was contacted by Spiro, it wasn’t just about how the big brand was, it was about the motive and the goal,” said Davido during the unveiling. “The idea of making the bikes electric, and making them look cool for the youth stood out. I’ve been riding for the past two months, and I know how efficient they are. It’s made in Africa; it does not get better than that.”

“These bikes are going to be made by Africans, in Africa, for the African terrains,” said Kaushik Burman, CEO of Spiro. “We hope that this is going to be the start to what I say is a renaissance industrial transformation in Africa. We are extremely proud and want to thank Davido and his team.”

“Just as Davido was born in Africa for the world, our first bike is for global Africa and the world. It is a very beautiful, innovative product supported by a great African icon,” said Benedict Omarah, President of Afreximbank.

“The idea was: how can we help reduce the import bill, reduce the subsidy, and at the same time help boda-boda drivers because the cost of operations is about 30% lower. The whole idea was to create something and that’s why Davido and I partnered to create Spiro, made in Africa for the world,” said Gagan Gupta, CEO of ARISE.

Spiro adds that in line with its pan-African expansion, the company has officially announced market entry in Tanzania and Cameroon, aligned with its broader strategy to enhance access to clean and affordable mobility. The company will also launch new assembly plants in Uganda, Nigeria, and Rwanda, with the Kenya plant already in operation reinforcing its commitment to a 100% Made-in-Africa approach.

Spiro says its AI-powered Smart Factory is now fully operational in Kenya. Leveraging Industry 4.0 technologies, the facility is designed to improve production efficiency and support localisation of key EV components. It includes the first fully women-operated traction motor assembly line, implemented through Spiro Academy, the company’s in-house training and capacity building platform.

Spiro has also developed Spiro Maps, an IoT-based digital platform built in Kenya, Nigeria, and India, and has integrated Agentic AI into several operational areas to improve efficiency and decision-making across its services.

In reflection of this commitment to empowerment of women, Spiro has signed a Memorandum of Understanding between Spiro Academy and SEPHIS Foundation, under the Shero Programme. The initiative aims to support women entrepreneurs across Africa by strengthening collaboration and accelerating financial inclusion and business growth in the sector. Spiro’s electric vehicles have enabled more than 500 million CO₂-free kilometres across Africa. As part of its long-term sustainability roadmap, Spiro has introduced a patented second-life battery energy storage solution which repurposes retired EV batteries for stationary applications. This initiative supports the circular economy while expanding access to decentralized, low-cost energy. The company says it maintains a strong focus on local value creation, women’s empowerment, and low-emission transport solutions.

Images courtesy of Spiro