Ampersand Unlocks East African EV Market by Opening Proprietary Battery Network to Global Manufacturers

Ampersand Energy, an electric mobility company operating in Rwanda and Kenya, has opened its battery swap network to global electric vehicle manufacturers to drive global adoption of electric mobility across Africa's commercial motorcycle markets. Since launching its first electric motorcycle in 2019, the company has been designing and assembling motorbikes using components from various suppliers, powering them with its proprietary batteries, swap stations, and the software that connects them. That vertical integration allowed the company to guarantee reliability in a market where many electric vehicle startups struggle with poor battery performance, short vehicle lifespans, and constant downtime.

Josh Whale, Ampersand Energy's CEO, stated that opening the swap network is driven by both market demand and its research and development from six years of operations, adding that the network will unbundle the most profitable part of the company's business, which is the battery and energy layer. Wylex Mobility, an established Asian electric vehicle manufacturer, is the first to join Ampersand's open network. Under the partnership, Ampersand will provide the batteries and swap station access while Wylex Mobility supplies the motorcycle hardware, pushing its entry into the East African market. Whale noted that the bikes will be assembled at its factory in Nairobi, and riders will access them through existing asset-finance partners.

Opening its battery network marks a major strategic shift for Ampersand, signalling the company's conviction that Africa's electric vehicle future will be won on energy infrastructure rather than on who manufactures the motorcycles. Ampersand's broader ambition is to sit at the center of that transition, with Whale stating that the company's goal is to build 50 to 60 strategically located swap stations in cities like Nairobi and Kigali. With each site designed to serve thousands of riders, that network could support 100,000 to 150,000 motorcycles per city. Africa's commercial motorcycle market is vast, and a report estimates that Sub-Saharan Africa has about 27 million motorcycles.

In Kenya alone, over 2 million internal-combustion motorcycles are in operation, most used for commercial transport. In 2024, the country recorded 68,804 registered new motorcycles, out of which 4,862 were electric, giving e-bikes a 7.1% share of that year's new registrations. The company said it already delivers more than 20,000 swaps a day across Kenya and Rwanda. Whale explained that each swap costs riders about $2 for roughly 80 kilometers of range, cutting fuel costs by about 35% and effectively increasing riders' take-home income compared to spending more than $1,000 a year on petrol.

Why This Matters

The unbundling of the battery and energy layer from hardware manufacturing represents a mature evolution in Africa's green technology sector. By shifting from a closed vertical model to an interoperable infrastructure platform, Ampersand is addressing the historical bottlenecks of high capital expenditure and proprietary lock-in that have slowed down commercial fleet electrification. This model lowers the barrier to entry for international hardware manufacturers who no longer need to build out expensive charging ecosystems from scratch, thereby accelerating the deployment of standardized, reliable green transport assets across urban centers in East Africa.

Furthermore, this infrastructure-first approach fundamentally alters the risk profile for investors and asset-finance partners operating in the mobility sector. When energy delivery and vehicle manufacturing are decoupled, operational risk is distributed across specialized entities, protecting end-users from the consequences of hardware failure or supply chain disruptions. For commercial riders, access to a dependable, high-density energy network stabilizes daily operational economics, directly translating infrastructure resilience into household income growth and insulating local transport markets from volatile fossil fuel import costs.

Opportunities

• Asset-Financing Partners: Opportunities to provide structured vehicle loans and credit facilities for riders acquiring new multi-brand electric motorcycles compatible with the open energy network.
• Global EV Manufacturers: Openings for international motorcycle brands to enter the East African commercial transport market without investing in proprietary charging infrastructure.
• v Contractors and Infrastructure Developers: Commercial prospects in constructing and maintaining 50 to 60 strategically located high-capacity battery swap stations across Nairobi and Kigali.
• Software and IoT Integrators: B2B integration contracts for optimizing battery telemetry, energy distribution, and swap station software connectivity across multi-vendor fleets.

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