Africa is charting a different road to electric mobility with motorbikes and versatile 3-wheelers

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — The electric vehicle revolution in Zimbabwe began on rural dirt paths. Three-wheeled vehicles carried cabbages to markets, women farmers to their fields and patients to clinics in communities where transport has long been scarce.

For farmer Agefi Mutambo, the owner of an electric three-wheeler since 2021, it has transformed her business and family.

Before, she walked seven to 10 kilometers (4.3 to 6.2 miles) balancing a 20-kilogram (44-pound) bucket of tomatoes on her head that she sold for $6.

“The money wasn't even enough for food. I would do a single trip a day, arrive at the market late and the produce would no longer be as fresh,” the 56-year-old said.

Now she makes two to three deliveries a week transporting 300 kilograms (661 pounds) of produce on each trip, grossing roughly $80 a trip supplying schools and clinics. She also ferries neighbors to hospital, sometimes at midnight for a woman in labor.

“When my battery is low, I simply swap it for $4, and I am back on the road,” she said.

Mutambo is among dozens of rural women entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe whose lives have been transformed by electric tricycles introduced by local social enterprise Mobility for Africa in 2019.

The company introduced the solar-charged tricycles, powered by lithium-ion batteries, mainly for rural women, under a lease-to-own scheme costing about $30 a week. Called “Hamba,” meaning “go” in the local Ndebele language, the vehicles can carry loads of over 400 kilograms (880 pounds) and travel about 100 kilometers (62 miles) on a single charge. Solar-powered charging stations and swappable batteries allow drivers to exchange depleted batteries rather than wait for them to recharge.

Across parts of Africa, motorcycles and three-wheelers are emerging as a route to electric mobility, particularly in rural communities long overlooked by conventional mobility businesses. While electric cars gain ground in wealthier markets, these smaller vehicles can operate with less extensive and expensive charging infrastructure, offering a potentially cheaper leapfrog to electrification for the continent of 1.5 billion people.

Despite holding vast reserves of critical minerals used in electric vehicle batteries, Africa remains a minor player in the global EV market.

Africa sold about 25,000 electric cars in 2025, concentrated in Egypt, Morocco and South Africa, compared with more than 20 million worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook 2026.

In 2026, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa identified unreliable electricity infrastructure, limited technical capacity and weak regulation as barriers to adoption.

But the market for small electric vehicles that are relevant to everyday transport, deliveries and commerce is growing, said Hezbon Mose, an e-mobility expert. Africa’s transition is largely centered on income-earning motorcycles and three-wheelers, with Ethiopia an exception because of its car-focused policies, he said.

While two-wheelers remain dominant, a three-wheeler market is emerging. In Kenya, annual electric three-wheeler registrations rose from 39 in 2023 to 517 in 2025, reaching 1,965 by June this year, said Mose, co-founder of non-profit, E-Mobility Africa.

The shift also has potential public health benefits. Electric motorcycles and three-wheelers produce no exhaust fumes, offering an opportunity to reduce roadside pollution. In Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, where motorcycles are part of public transport culture, road transport alone is responsible for 40% of fine particle air pollution, according to the Clean Air Fund.

A 2025 study published in the World Electric Vehicle Journal also found that electrifying Nairobi’s motorcycle fleet would eliminate tailpipe particulate emissions from those vehicles, while cutting daily automotive carbon dioxide emissions by about 85%.

For entrepreneurs, the appeal lies in the economics of income-generating vehicles rather than luxury, said Mose, the expert.

“Electric three-wheelers already pay for themselves for working drivers,” he said.

A taxi electric three-wheeler in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa can save roughly $4 to $10 a day in running costs compared with a petrol-powered vehicle, with the higher purchase price recouped in five to 21 months, said Mose.

“They suit Africa because they are income assets, not consumer goods. The same chassis serves as taxi, last-mile delivery, waste collection, and produce haulage, widening the market well beyond public transport,” he said.

Citing industry figures, Mose said roughly 30 million Africans earn a living on two- and three-wheelers, yet fewer than 200,000 are electric. “An owner buys on daily cash flow, which is exactly where electric wins,” said Mose.

Investors are backing businesses developing electric motorcycles, three-wheelers, charging infrastructure and battery-swapping systems, especially in East Africa.

Shantha Bloemen, the Mobility for Africa founder, reckons lasting growth requires financing models that can survive beyond donor-funded projects.

“We have seen what happens with aid, how temporary it is when countries look at other priorities,” she said. “They cut Africa, their projects go to the ground. We need humanitarian assistance, but we need development finance more.”

For Bloemen, the idea was to address basic obstacles to rural economic activity: the lack of reliable, affordable transport and funding.

“When transport is scarce, produce rots in fields, children miss school and families cannot access healthcare,” Bloemen said. “Transport becomes the difference between subsistence and commerce.”

Bloemen argues that improving access to transport can help unlock the potential of rural economies often overlooked by conventional lenders.

“The rural informal economy is where most people live,” Bloemen said. “And if you look at my market, rural small-scale farmers... none of the banks will lend to them because they are deemed not creditworthy.”

Rural women, Bloemen said, are often most affected.

“We have a gender bias. We don’t take women small-scale farmers seriously, which is really not a clever thing to do because women are so entrepreneurial and the backbone of every economy,” she said.

Mutambo, the farmer, sees herself as an example. Her improved earnings have paid for one child’s teaching diploma, high school fees for another and primary schooling for five grandchildren.

“We were looked down upon,” she said. “Now we are the pride of the village.”

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