The Electric Moto: A Game Changer in Rwanda?
So, what is a Moto?
A moto is a Rwandan motorcycle taxi, known in neighbouring countries as a bodaboda. It’s by a long stretch the most common vehicle in Rwanda, and across a lot of East Africa. There are probably about 3 million motos and bodabodas in East Africa, together covering the distance to the sun and back twice a day.
Rwanda’s capital Kigali has a whopping 30,000 motos. A couple of weeks ago I was waiting by the roadside for an appointment. I took out my notebook and tallied up the vehicles driving past. I got 60 motos, and 48 of all other other vehicles combined. That’s one moto every five seconds.
Sounds cool. What do they need from us?
Unfortunately, the margin a moto driver makes during an average day is very slim. Once you’ve subtracted the cost of fuel, motorcycle maintenance, cooperative fees, licenses and taxes, and the lease for the bike (if they are on a rent to own contract) then on average drivers only take home US$1.60 a day.
At Ampersand, we are building battery powered bikes that both perform better and cost less to buy and run than current petrol bikes. We believe we can halve drivers’ daily fuel costs from US$5.50 to roughly US$2.70. For many drivers that means doubling or tripling their take-home income, an extra $900 in their pockets each year.
With support from DFID’s Frontier Technology Livestreaming programme, our current goal is to rapidly define the ideal vehicle configuration and components. This will be based on both technical testing with some cool equipment, and customer testing and feedback. Using this we will then go and build a limited production run of ‘beta’ motorcycles, for real world testing with paying drivers. We also want to gather solid evidence of the potential benefits to drivers, passengers, the climate, and urban air quality.
What are the elements of your potential solution?
We have three strands to our solution, each of which will go through cycles of testing and iteration as we go through our journey on this programme:
First, we build our motorbikes using off-the-shelf components and simple materials as much as possible. This lets us move faster and cheaper. Standard motorcycle components like mirrors, handlebars and lights are also made to be replaceable with the standard aftermarket spare parts for models already popular in East Africa. We’ve built five prototypes, and have already given drivers the first chance to provide us with feedback on which one they like best, and take a ride on the back of one.
The result: drivers chose the one that looked and felt most like what they were used to. We’ve learnt from drivers that it’s best to design what our drivers feel comfortable with already, but adapt it for a battery rather than a petrol tank. The final comparison will be to give them the chance to test drive the motorbikes for themselves, and give them the information about pricing, range and power. In the early days at least, motorbikes will be leased instead of sold.
Second, instead of selling motorcycles with battery packs, we rent out charged batteries. The fee for the battery rental and the electricity inside it will cost about half what the equivalent range in petrol would cost, and provide more range than drivers typically buy when they refuel. Leasing instead of selling frees drivers from a big upfront cost for a complex and expensive item, and the risk. It also enables us to invest in better batteries.
Third, these batteries will be recharged at a network of electric battery swap stations that we’ll build ourselves. Each charging station will be connected directly to medium voltage electricity distribution lines with our own transformer. Each will look and feel like a petrol station, with attendants using simple tools and trolleys to swap batteries quickly and safely. Definitely no robots here! This system once again keeps behaviour change and adaptation to a minimum for our customers. We want them to feel ‘at home’ in our solution.
If zoning rules allow, we even plan to use movable shipping containers for the first charging stations. These are inexpensive and allow us to work lean, a key part of the FTL programme’s ethos. They can be dropped in place and relocated relatively easily — meaning we can change location and grow or reduce capacity quickly, or provide replacement stations if one breaks down.
Follow me and this page on Medium for more updates. Next time, I’ll talk more about the impact our battery powered bikes can have: on individuals, on systems and on the environment. Thanks for your interest!
