Electric taxis in Dakar, battery motorbikes in East Africa: electric mobility looks for its business model

On 24 September 2026, a hundred electric taxis were handed over at the Centre International du Commerce Extérieur du Sénégal (CICES) in Dakar. They are the first wave of a 1,000-vehicle programme for professional drivers, led by the Land Transport Development Fund (FDTT) and the Banque pour le Commerce et l’Industrie (BCI), with support from the National Vocational Training Office (ONFP).

The event says something essential about how electric mobility is advancing in Africa. It is not wealthy private buyers who are its main driver, but professionals who drive all day: taxi drivers, motorbike taxi riders, delivery riders. For them, the argument is not environmental first, it is economic.

A calculation that speaks to drivers

The figures put forward at the ceremony sum up what is at stake. A fuel-powered taxi driver spends about 30,000 CFA francs a day on fuel. According to the organisers, the electric vehicle can cover about 450 kilometres on 5,000 CFA francs of electricity. Even allowing for differences in journeys and the price of charging, the gap in daily spending is considerable for professionals for whom every franc counts.

The obstacle is the purchase price. An electric vehicle costs more than a second-hand taxi, and drivers do not have the savings. Hence the core of the programme: leasing. BCI finances the vehicles, and drivers pay for them gradually to become owners after four years. FDTT guarantees part of the loans, which helps attract bank financing. The full 1,000-taxi programme requires about 13 billion CFA francs of financing.

« This ceremony reflects our determination to test a new model that combines fleet renewal, modernisation of transport and the energy transition. »

Bara Sow, administrator of FDTT (our translation)

The timetable foresees 700 taxis on the road by the end of 2026, then 300 more by 31 December 2027. The stated ambition goes much further: 10,000 electric vehicles by 2030. The programme also includes a training strand, to prepare drivers to drive and maintain these vehicles, which are not repaired like a combustion engine.

The questions still open

Several points were not detailed publicly at the launch: the model and manufacturer of the vehicles, the monthly payments, the deposit required, and above all the charging network. Yet that is the key. A taxi that spends two hours waiting for a charger loses the economic advantage of electric. The reliability of Dakar’s power grid and the price per kilowatt-hour for professional charging will determine real profitability.

The value of the batteries over time will also need watching. At the end of four years of leasing, the driver becomes the owner of a vehicle whose battery will have lost some of its capacity. The manufacturer’s warranty and the possibility of replacing the battery at a reasonable price will make the difference between a good and a bad investment.

In East Africa, the motorbike first

At the other end of the continent, electric mobility has taken another form: the motorbike taxi, or boda boda. The company Spiro leases electric motorbikes and runs a network of stations where riders swap their empty battery for a full one in a few minutes, instead of waiting for a charge. The company claims more than 135,000 motorbikes deployed and more than 50 million battery swaps in seven African countries.

In June 2026, Spiro closed a $270 million funding round, with $55 million from Chinese investor NewTrails Capital. In September, the Africa Go Green fund, a climate debt fund managed by Cygnum Capital and created at the initiative of the German state-owned bank KfW, doubled its commitment by adding $18 million, for a total of $36 million. The money will be used to deploy motorbikes and densify the battery-swap network in Uganda and Rwanda. According to the company, its cumulative public funding amounts to about $575 million.

The choice of Uganda and Rwanda is no accident: in both countries, hundreds of thousands of motorbike taxis provide a large share of urban trips, and governments have stated their intention to gradually convert this fleet to electric. Kigali, for example, has introduced a series of tax measures in favour of electric vehicles. For an operator like Spiro, the density of the station network matters more than the number of countries: a rider only switches bikes if they are sure to find a full battery a few minutes from their work area. The battery-swap model solves two problems at once. It removes the wait for charging, unacceptable for a rider paid per trip, and it separates the price of the battery from that of the bike: the rider buys or leases a cheaper vehicle and pays for energy as they use it, as they used to pay for petrol.

Côte d’Ivoire: charging as a business

In Côte d’Ivoire, it is the infrastructure itself that is attracting investors. The start-up EV.Tech, which is developing a network of charging stations, announced in September an investment from the asset manager Enko Capital to expand its network. The amount was not made public, but the signal is clear: investors are betting that charging will become a profitable business as electric fleets grow.

And where does the electricity come from?

An electric car is only clean if the electricity is. In Senegal, a large share of production still comes from thermal power plants, even though the country has developed solar and wind power and is starting to exploit its gas. The climate benefit of electric taxis will therefore depend on how the electricity mix evolves, and on the possibility of charging during the day, when solar produces the most.

The grid question is also practical. A thousand taxis charging at the same time at the end of the day represent a significant load for the neighbourhoods concerned. Charging stations fitted with solar panels and storage batteries, like those appearing in several African cities, can reduce this pressure. It is an area where energy and charging start-ups, like EV.Tech in Côte d’Ivoire, have a role to play.

What will make the difference

The experiences of Dakar, Kampala and Abidjan point to the same lesson: the technology is ready; it is financing and infrastructure that decide. Leasing guaranteed by a public fund, battery swapping and private charging networks are three different answers to the same problem. Senegal is testing the first on a scale that will quickly show results: drivers’ repayment rates, vehicle availability, real cost per kilometre. If the 700 taxis promised by the end of the year are on the road and repaying, the model can spread beyond the capital.