In recent months, brightly-branded <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/energy/indian-oil-refiner-hindustan-petroleum-plans-rapid-vehicle-battery-swap-programme-1.899057" target="_blank">battery swapping </a>stations have cropped up around Kenya's capital Nairobi, allowing riders of electric motorcycles to exchange their low battery for a fully-charged one. It is a sign of an <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/transport/2022/07/22/talabat-rider-pay-rise-and-electric-bike-trial/" target="_blank">electric motorcycle revolution </a>starting to unfold in Kenya, where petrol-fuelled motorbikes are a cheaper and quicker way to get around than cars, but according to environmental experts are 10 times more polluting. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2022/08/18/us-congressional-delegation-in-kenya-amid-election-crisis/" target="_blank">East Africa's biggest economy </a>is leading the region's shift to zero-emission electric mobility, by using electric-powered motorcycles, its renewables-heavy power supply and position as a technology and start-up hub. The battery swapping system not only saves time — essential for more than a million motorcyclists in Kenya, most of whom use the bikes commercially — but also saves buyers money, as many sellers follow a model in which they retain <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/energy/2022/12/07/how-rising-battery-prices-could-derail-arrival-of-affordable-evs/" target="_blank">ownership of the battery</a>, the bike's most expensive part. “It doesn't make a lot of economic and business sense for users to acquire a battery … which would almost double the cost of the bike,” said Steve Juma, the co-founder of electric bike company Ecobodaa. Ecobodaa has 50 test electric motorcycles on the road. It plans to have 1,000 by the end of 2023. Each is sold for about $1,500 — about the same price as a combustion-engine bike thanks to the exclusion of the battery from the cost. After the initial purchase, the electric motorcycle — designed to be sturdy enough to traverse rocky roads — is cheaper to run than its petrol-guzzling equivalent. “With the normal bike, I will use fuel worth approximately 700-800 Kenyan shillings ($5.70-$6.51) each day, but with this bike, when I swap a battery I get one battery at 300 shillings,” said Kevin Macharia, who transports goods and passengers around Nairobi. Ecobodaa is one of several Nairobi-based electric motorcycle start-ups working to prove themselves in Kenya before expanding in East Africa. Kenya's consistent power supply, which is about 95 per cent renewable, led by hydroelectricity and has a widespread network, provides major support for growth of the sector, said Jo Hurst-Croft, founder of ARC Ride, another Nairobi-based electric motorcycle start-up. The country's power utility estimates it generates enough to charge two million electric motorcycles a day. Access to electricity in the country is over 75 per cent, according to the World Bank, and even higher in Nairobi. Uganda and Tanzania also have robust and renewables-heavy grids that could support electric mobility, said Mr Hurst-Croft. “We're putting over 200 swapping stations in Nairobi and expanding to Dar es Salaam and Kampala,” he said.