Q&A: Can Africa make electric motorcycles that last?

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Concerns remain over whether electric motorcycles assembled locally in Africa are as good as those that are imported. In this week’s interview, we feature Sylvia Wanjiru, a quality assurance manager at Gogo Electric, an electric motorcycle company based in Kampala, Uganda. Ms Wanjiru believes that the continent has what it takes to build high quality EVs. 

• We discussed the quality of motorcycles that are being made on the continent compared to those that are imported from mature markets such as China, and whether they meet the exerting demands of users in Africa. 

• Ms Wanjiru also expressed the need for Africa’s mobility companies to adopt automated assembly lines for electric motorcycles to speed up their production capacities and make the assembly process efficient. 

More details

You have been working in Uganda for about a year now. How is the local electric motorcycle market?

Ms Wanjiru: It's less competitive here in Uganda compared to Kenya. There are fewer electric motorcycles, but there's a high demand for motorcycles. There's actually a higher demand for motorcycles in Kampala compared to Nairobi. There's just a lower demand for EVs. The marketing hasn't been done so well so the hype is not there.

How does Gogo compare in terms of size with other electric motorcycle companies in Uganda?

Ms Wanjiru: Gogo is the leading EV assembler and supplier in Uganda. Spiro came to Uganda last year and now, there's more competition. However, Gogo is the leading manufacturer of electric motorcycles and batteries. In East Africa, we are the only company that assembles batteries for EVs.   

Are these batteries both for electric motorcycles and cars?

Ms Wanjiru: They are for motorcycles, not cars. We manufacture and assemble from scratch batteries for motorcycles. And then we also have a company called Zembo, it's our third biggest competitor. So far those are the known names in Uganda.

How is the quality of locally-made electric motorcycles when you compare them with those that are imported? 

Ms Wanjiru: Having worked in two companies in quality, assembly is almost quite standard. In Africa, we are using manual assembly lines. We do not have the automated assembly lines that companies like China have. Chinese companies have very long assembly lines that are fully automated, like most of them are semi-autonomous with very few human interaction. What we have in Kenya and Uganda are manual assembly lines, you put a chassis or frame on a stand and you start putting parts together as you move.

Does this mean that manufacturers need to make electric motorcycles that can meet local user requirements? 

Ms Wanjiru: This is what we need to do. We have to sit down and then we say okay we are going to target motorcycles not for (online) deliveries because we know that our motorcycles carry cows, sacks of potatoes and such so we need a carrier like this, a motor like that and this amount of power and this torque. That is the approach we need to take.

Are African electric motorcycle companies investing enough in research and development to improve the quality of their products?

Ms Wanjiru: At Gogo, we have an R&D department where we sit down and ask what our riders want. We know they want a bike that they can put on ten sacks of maize or potatoes. This means they want a bike that has a certain amount of power. So once we write all these things down, we go looking for a supplier who can supply the parts that we want. Now because we've sat down and defined what we want, those bikes last longer in the market.

Quality motorcycles come at a price. Are Africans ready to pay this price?  

Ms Wanjiru: Yes, people will always pay for quality. I believe it is important for any company that wants long term success to invest in engineering. You don't need to have a fully funded engineering department. You just need to employ test and reliability engineers, like three of them or four of them. Then a supplier quality engineer who talks to suppliers, you have this, you have this. Someone who does market research and says, this is what we work for, does China have this? Because you don't have that capacity right now. What we want is to change the EV market very fast, right? 

How do you project demand for electric motorcycles in Uganda in the coming years especially as prices continue to decline? 

Ms Wanjiru: The number one thing is that demand for motorcycles in Uganda is very high and will always be there. The second thing is that there is proven economic benefit of EVs over petrol for the rider, which is key. It costs less to maintain, which means more profit made. So it makes sense for the rider to have an EV. We need to have a promotion to shift, to educate our riders, to educate our communities, to have a mindset and just show them these benefits that are there.

EV companies currently have their own battery swapping stations. Do you think interoperability between stations is long overdue in the sector? 

Ms Wanjiru: This is not something that is happening in Uganda, even in Kenya swapping stations are not interoperable. But we need to come up to that level. Companies currently have their own size of batteries, plugs, racks and all, which are not compatible with each substation.