Ampersand Leads The Charge As Electric Motorcycle Market Share Surges In Kigali, Rwanda

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Rwanda has some of the most progressive polices in the world for electric vehicles. I had never been to Rwanda, so when I got the chance to visit recently, I was looking forward to getting a feel for how the electric mobility sector is progressing over there. How did it go? Let’s just say I was impressed, and the insights into the activities there were beyond my expectations. I have been writing about the electric mobility space in Africa for over 7 years now and I am really proud to say that following all the early pilot phases and numerous iterations, certain sectors in the mobility space are really starting to take off now.

The electric motorcycle sector is one that stands out in a lot of countries in East and West Africa. This is because this sector presents a large addressable market, driven by tens of millions of ICE motorcycle taxis. Motorcycle taxis are a key mode of transport in many countries on the African continent, including Rwanda. Driving from the airport on the evening of my arrival, I could already see swarms of riders going about their business in Kigali. What really struck me is that although there are thousands of these motorcycles on the streets of Kigali, it is not as chaotic as in other parts of the world.

What also stood out for me was the fact that you don’t even need to look out for electric motorcycles. They are literally everywhere and easy to spot. That already gives you an idea of the growing market share of electric motorcycles anecdotally. Well, the good news is there is so much progress in Rwanda and now we are starting to get some good data to showcase all this growth!

As you drive around Kigali, one of the easiest electric motorcycle brands to spot is Ampersand with its bright yellow battery packs. It’s also easy to spot Ampersand motorcycles as the company has the largest fleet of motorcycles in Rwanda, so everywhere you go, you are most likely to see an Ampersand bike! Ampersand has just released some data on its operations in Kenya and Rwanda, and the numbers are just awesome. The company announced that in Kenya, riders are now doing over 2,700 battery swaps per day at its swap stations. Ampersand currently has just over 1,300 electric motorcycles on the road in Kenya. That works out to be about 2 swaps per bike per day. In Rwanda, Ampersand riders are now doing over 14,700 swaps per day. Ampersand has just over 4,000 electric motorcycles in Rwanda. That works out to be about 3.7 battery swaps per day. Overall, Ampersand’s fleet of electric motorcycles in Kenya and Rwanda combined is now doing over 810,000 km per day!

The difference between the number of swaps per day in Nairobi and Kigali is due to the fact that on average, riders cover longer distances in Kigali than in Nairobi. And if you have been to Kigali, you would know Rwanda is called the land of a thousand hills and you can literally see hills all around you. This terrain also plays a role in higher energy consumption for the bikes as compared with Nairobi. At the moment, riders in Nairobi are covering an average of 150km per day and over 200km per day in Kigali.

As a more mature market, riders in Kigali are covering longer distances per day than their ICE counterparts and enjoying lower operational costs of around 35 to 40% compared with ICE models. This has resulted in riders passing on these savings to their customers, and in a lot of cases, electric motorcycle taxi rides are about 10 to 20% less than rides on ICE motorcycles. This has all evolved organically and is helping to build confidence in electric motorcycles in Rwanda.

To show again just how much progress has been made, there are about 30,000 motorcycle taxis operating in Kigali. Excluding some of the other electric motorcycle firms, the 4,000 Ampersand motorcycles mean that the company now has a 13% percent share of the total motorcycle taxi sector in Kigali. A 13% market share is amazing given that electric motorcycles haven’t been on the roads in the country for no more than about 7 years, and really much less than that if we take out the early years for pilot programs.

It’s only going to get better from here. We got here thanks to Rwanda’s cool incentives for EVs. A couple of years ago, Rwanda introduced some really cool incentives for EVs that included:

Fiscal Incentives:

• Electricity tariffs for charging stations to be capped at the industrial tariff. This means that charge point operators will be billed at close to USD 10 cents/kWh instead of close to 20 cents/kWh.
• Electric vehicles will also benefit from reduced tariffs during off-peak periods.
• Electric vehicles, spare parts, batteries, and charging station equipment will all be exempted from import and excise duties. All of these would also be treated as zero rated VAT products and will also be exempt from withholding tax.

Non-Fiscal Incentives:

• Rent-free land for charging stations on land owned by the government.
• Provisions for EV charging stations in the building code and city planning rules.
• Green license plates to allow preferential parking for EVs and free entry into any future congestion zones.
• Access to dedicated bus lanes.
• Provide preference to electric vehicles for government-hired vehicles.
• Regulate the importation of used vehicles by imposing an age limit.
• Establish restricted zones where only green vehicles can have access.
• Enforcement of existing emission standards to discourage the purchase of polluting vehicles.

Rwanda is actively encouraging investment in the e-mobility sector, and the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) also gave a presentation outlining some of the initiatives to encourage investment. Some of these incentives include a preferential corporate income tax rate of 15% for investors operating in e-mobility. Firms operating in the energy, ITC, and mass transport industries also qualify.

These are some of the incentives driving this growth. From January 1, 2025, only electric motorcycles can be registered in Rwanda, no more new registrations of ICE motorcycles. That means going forward, we are going to see that market share grow very quickly from 13%.

Images by Remeredzai