Electric mobility in Africa has reached an important turning point. Ampersand Energy has decided to open its battery swap network to global electric vehicle manufacturers. This move aims to speed up the adoption of electric motorcycles across the continent. By focusing on energy infrastructure instead of competing through hardware, Ampersand is positioning itself to support millions of riders with a system that is reliable, scalable and easy to use. This shift has the potential to positively change Africa’s commercial transport sector by lowering costs for riders, encouraging more manufacturers to enter the market and giving customers more freedom of choice.
“We have officially opened our battery swap network to global manufacturers — beginning with the launch of Wylex, a new electric motorcycle built to plug directly into Ampersand’s trusted energy infrastructure,” announced the company.
A New Focus on Energy Infrastructure
Ampersand launched in 2019 with a fully integrated model where it built its own electric motorcycles and powered them with its own battery technology. This approach helped the company control quality, solve common reliability problems in the region and make sure riders could depend on the service. After six years of collecting data and improving its system, the company is now ready to open the most valuable part of its business to others.
CEO Josh Whale explained that both riders and manufacturers have shown strong demand for Ampersand’s energy solution. He noted that the company creates the most value on the energy side through its batteries, swap stations and software. This change turns Ampersand into a shared energy platform that any manufacturer can plug into rather than a single company competing through its own motorcycle model.
The first partnership under this new model is with Wylex Mobility, a well known Asian EV producer. Wylex will provide its motorcycle hardware for the East African market while using Ampersand’s batteries and swap stations. The motorcycles will be assembled in Nairobi and riders will be able to access them through existing asset-finance partners.
Wylex CEO Eileen Huang said the partnership is built on complementary strengths. Her company brings decades of experience in building strong and reliable motorcycles and Ampersand brings deep knowledge of riders and a proven swap network. Together they believe they can provide a better product for the region. This partnership lets each company focus on what it does best while expanding into new markets.
More Competition and More Choice for Riders
One interesting aspect of the new approach is that Wylex motorcycles will compete with Ampersand’s own Alpha model on the same energy network. Whale welcomes this competition and says it is good for customers. Riders will now have more options and can choose the features they prefer such as Wylex’s popular flat seat design. This shows Ampersand’s confidence in its energy infrastructure and its belief that a bigger market benefits everyone.
The potential market is significant. There are an estimated 27 million commercial motorcycles operating in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Kenya alone more than 7 percent of new motorcycle registrations in 2024 were electric. This signals a strong shift toward cleaner transport. Ampersand’s shared infrastructure is designed to support this growth by reducing the cost of ownership and giving riders convenient access to power.
The company already powers more than 20,000 battery swaps every day across Kenya and Rwanda. Riders save about 35 percent on fuel costs compared to petrol motorcycles. Ampersand plans to build 50 to 60 more swap stations in Nairobi, Kigali and other key cities. Each station will eventually be able to support up to 150,000 motorcycles. This makes the system scalable and ready for mass adoption as more manufacturers join.
