Top mobility firms grow their workforce by 36%

June 17, 2025

From the newsletter

Africa’s top 25 electric mobility companies have increased their workforce by 36% in the past one year, according to LinkedIn data analysed by Mobility Rising. It shows that the number of individuals working at the companies grew to 3,700 in June 2025, marking a growth of 1,315 from June 2024. This highlights just how fast EV companies are hiring talent to scale operations. 

  • The companies we analysed are Tesla, BYD, Spiro, Ampersand, Max, BasiGo, MellowVans, Rubicon, Mbay Mobility, Kiira Motors Corporation, Blu EV, Zembo, Charge, Roam Electric, Shift EV and Dodai. Others are Gogo Electric, Kofa, ARC Ride, Solar Taxi, Kabisa, Saglev, Wahu Mobility, EVTech and Tri. 

  • Mobility Rising analysed data of workers with LinkedIn profiles working at these companies. For companies with a global presence such as Tesla and BYD, we only selected workers that are located in Africa. 

More details

  • Tesla has the largest workforce, with its employees based in Africa totaling 1,371. The company has been scaling fast, growing its workforce by 876 over the past 12 months alone. The presence of these workers is well spread out across the continent, mainly in Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, South and Africa. The company sells home energy storage systems in Africa, and is set to officially sell its popular EVs on the continent for the first time, starting in Morocco. 

  • Electric motorcycle company Spiro has also grown rapidly, growing its workforce by 173 over the past year. The company is now in eight African countries, with a workforce totaling 376. Currently operating in east and west Africa, Spiro plans to eventually expand to southern and north Africa. 

  • Chinese EV giant BYD is also one of the leading recruiters. The company, which is now in 17 African countries, has 107 workers, growing its employee count by 30 in one year. Like other global automakers, BYD relies on dealers, mainly Loxea, to sell its EVs in Africa. it is poised to continue its continent-wide expansion as demand for cheaper electric cars grows. 

  • Other EV companies that have grown their workforce by the largest size are Ampersand (+80), Kiira Motors Corporation (+47), Dodai (+24), and BasiGo (+39). Others are Max (+22), Gogo Electric (+33), Zembo (+12) and Saglev (+9).

  • One of the fastest growing functions in the industry is sales, with the leading EV firms hiring an additional 149 sales employees over the last one year. The growth in sales workers indicates a focus by the firms to grow their revenues, even as demand rises. Other leading functions are engineering, operations, quality assurance and information technology.  

  • The largest EV segment by volume in Africa remains electric motorcycles, with thousands of units sold annually on the continent. Africa’s roads are filled with millions of diesel motorcycles, which are a primary means of transport in crowded cities and rural areas. This has opened a major opportunity for electric motorcycles, whose popularity is exploding as they enable motorists, majority of whom are commercial, to save between 20-35% of their daily operational costs. 

Our take

  • As EV companies scale, competition for skilled talent—especially in engineering, battery tech, and software—will intensify, especially as global companies like Tesla and BYD enter the market. The talent for war could lead to increased cross-border recruitment. 

  • With their recent aggressive expansion drives, companies like Spiro and BYD could accelerate entry into untapped regions like Central Africa, while other companies could launch new consumer financing models to boost adoption.

  • EV companies are increasingly shifting to local assembly in strategic markets, and as they scale, this could lead to full-scale manufacturing in future. The shift to local assembly is not only helping create new jobs but also support the growth of the industry by boosting local capacity.