KENYA: on the sidelines of Climate Week, Uber launches its fleet of electric motorcycles
Uber chooses Kenya to start its new adventure in electric mobility by announcing the deployment of 3,000 e-motorcycles on the roads of Nairobi. A project in line with the vision of President William Ruto who recently called on investors to put into circulation up to 200,000 electric two-wheelers by 2024 in this East African country.
This is news that can only rejoice the populations of Nairobi where the African Climate Week (ACW) continues. The American VTC (transport car with driver) giant Uber is launching an electric motorcycle service in the Kenyan capital. The initiative should enable the digital platform to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. The fleet will initially be made up of 3,000 machines called “electric boda”.
This deployment will contribute to the creation of jobs in the fields of automobile driving and maintenance which are of increasing interest to the unemployed. The two-wheelers assembled by Uber and its partners will soon be circulating in Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa. The final phase of this expansion will also target several West African countries.
These include Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast. Dynamic markets for the development of eco-mobility, according to Imran Manji. “We provide users with a more affordable way to travel from one place to another, with prices 15 to 20% lower than for a trip with a motorcycle running on fuel,” explains the director of Uber for East Africa.
This investment was predictable since in 2021 the mobility start-up Opibus announced its future collaboration with the Californian company with a view to “creating a sustainable ecosystem for transport” on the continent. It was a question for Uber to put into circulation the two-wheeled vehicles supplied by Opibus thanks to its applications marketed in more than 310 cities around the world. One more initiative to reduce carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions which contribute to atmospheric pollution and therefore global warming.
