Are Africa’s latest electric motorcycle battery swapping gains outpacing the world?

Battery swapping for electric motorbikes isn’t new technology, but its adoption rate has proven to be remarkably inconsistent around the world. One of the biggest surprises recently has been one of the places where such technology has grown rapidly: Africa.

Electric motorbike battery-swapping often takes hold in areas where car usage is outnumbered by motorbikes, meaning any advances in electrification have a much bigger impact on the population and the environment. Battery swapping allows an electric motorbike to operate essentially indefinitely, removing the need for recharging stops in favor of simply swapping out a depleted battery for a fully charged one.

Africa certainly doesn’t come up often in conversations around electric vehicle hotspots, but perhaps it should. The continent has quietly become a hub of electric motorcycle activity as multiple homegrown startups expand country by country and bring along a series of battery-swapping platforms.

Spiro, one of the largest players in the African electric motorbike market, counts a ridership of over 12,000 and a total network of at least 600 battery-swapping stations. Those stations have largely been manually run, requiring an employee to perform the swapping operation, but have still racked up over 7 million battery swaps so far.

Now, the company is announcing its first 50 automated battery-swapping stations. These stations use smart cabinets similar to those we have seen from other companies such as Vammo in South America, allowing riders to roll up, authenticate themselves, and then swap their own battery into an empty space for recharging while simultaneously receiving a freshly charged battery.

As Spiro’s CTO Samir Mishra explained:

“Our automated swap stations, paired with Spiro batteries, represent the pinnacle of safety and quality in the EV market. These stations are designed to offer our customers a seamless and secure experience, ensuring that every swap transparently conveys the exact value customers are paying for. The batteries are connected to the cloud around the clock making sure they meet the highest standards of performance and reliability. 

At Spiro, we are committed to pushing the boundaries of technology to provide solutions that are not only innovative but also trustworthy, impactful and life-changing, bringing smiles to customers faces by adding a bit more cash to their pocket each day. We are raising the bar for electric mobility across Africa.”

By far the largest users of electric motorbikes in Africa are boda boda operators, or motorbike taxis. These are incredibly common in many African cities and are seen as the quickest way to get around town. In order for those riders to effectively switch to electric motorbikes though, they need a way to operate throughout the day. Battery swapping provides that solution, letting them “refuel” as quickly as a gas station fill-up but without the same harmful emissions – and without as much cost.

So could initiatives like Spiro’s automated battery-swapping stations leapfrog past the rest of the world? Potentially, though it depends on where you look. It’s likely not the case when compared to major competitors like Gogoro’s systems, which dominate in Asia. There’s an argument to be made when compared to electric motorbike battery swapping systems in Europe and South America, where progress exists but isn’t as well developed or proliferated as Gogoro’s technology. However, when compared to some of the most underdeveloped regions of the world such as North America – at least when considering battery swapping – Africa appears to not only hold a sizeable lead but is growing at a much faster rate.

Electrek’s Take

Perhaps one day the United States can look towards Africa and learn a thing or two about efficient, right-sized electric vehicles.

Or, you know, we can just keep crushing people under 8,000 lb electric SUVs on the way to the supermarket. Why mess with what’s working?