KENYA: Roam inaugurates 3 battery exchange stations for its e-motorbikes in Nairobi

The mobility start-up Roam, the only African company to have been nominated in 2022 in the "air quality" category of the British Earthshot prize for climate action, has just installed a network of three battery exchange stations for its electric motorbikes in Nairobi.

Good news for Roam Air electric motorbike riders in Kenya. They will now be able to exchange their batteries at a network of three exchange stations set up by mobility start-up Roam at Lusaka Road, Waiyaki Way and Ngong Road in the capital Nairobi. These facilities make it possible to recharge batteries “in less than an hour”, and to exchange a discharged battery for a new one ready for use.

According to the company headed by Filip Lövström, these sites, known as “Roam Hub”, are partly solar-powered and offer a battery rental service, as well as a maintenance team to repair electric motorbikes that break down. While it is also possible for Roam users to carry out all these operations from home, the start-up is banking on technology to speed up the decarbonisation of boda boda (the name given to motorbike taxis in East Africa) in the Kenyan capital.

“We are demonstrating our ability to advance our sustainability and electrification goals through a versatile set of charging solutions and technology offerings. With our industry-leading electrification ambitions, we can accelerate the expansion of electric motorbikes,” says Romain Petiteau, Head of Energy and Recharging at the start-up formerly known as Opibus.

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Two-wheelers are a major contributor to carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in Africa, with 1.6 million registered motorbikes still running on petrol in Kenya, according to official figures. It is in this context, coupled with strong demographic growth, that Roam is preparing to market its electric mobility solutions (buses and motorbikes) in other African countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).