An electric motorcycle, made by Swedish-Kenyan manufacturer Roam completed a 6,000-kilometer (3,700-mile) journey from Nairobi, Kenya, to Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 17 days, using only solar power. <\/p>\n
While the world record for the longest electric motorcycle journey is 25,000 kilometers (11,300 miles), undertaken over 42 days in the US, Roam hopes that its stunt helps to prove the viability of renewable energy for long-distance travel even in remote areas with poor charging <\/strong>infrastructure. <\/p>\n The batteries were charged en route through a solar panel charging system carried in a support vehicle, which would drive ahead each day, stopping to charge up the batteries, so that when the bike caught up it could swap the dead battery for a fresh one. During the journey, the motorcycle model, the Roam Air, achieved its new single battery record range of 113 kilometers (70 miles), and on the trip\u2019s last day, it traveled 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) in less than 18 hours. <\/p>\n Kituyi split the riding with Stephan Lacock, a postgraduate student at Stellenbosch University who is <\/strong>working on a powertrain simulation project to boost the Roam Air\u2019s efficiency. Accompanied by two support vehicles, they set off on 29 September, traveling through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Botswana, before arriving in Stellenbosch on the morning of 16 October. The team drove along highways and dirt tracks, stopping off at Victoria Falls and Chobe River, where they camped under the stars and among hippos. <\/p>\n On average the team covered around 400 kilometers (250 miles) per day, with about 80 kilometers (50 miles) per battery. <\/p>\n The biggest challenge the team faced during the journey was the weather. \u201cYou can\u2019t force the sun to shine,\u201d says Kituyi, and at some points they ended up adapting their route so that they could escape cloud cover and have an opportunity to recharge the batteries. <\/p>\n While Roam wanted to demonstrate the potential of solar energy as a solution for powering bikes in areas that lack charging infrastructure, Kituyi says that most of Roam\u2019s customers charge their bikes at home with energy from the grid. However, he insists that this mammoth journey would still be possible for people without a solar support car. <\/p>\n \u201cAnywhere you can charge your phone, you can charge the bike,\u201d he says. \u201cThat means with enough planning and lodging in hotels that have electricity, you are able to do this journey yourself.\u201d <\/p>\n However, he adds that he\u2019s not expecting many of Roam\u2019s customers to travel cross-continent \u2013 rather, riders might need the bike to travel between rural areas and cities. The feat was about \u201cshowing the flexibility works,\u201d he says, and countering range anxiety. <\/p>\n The journey was a collaborative effort between Roam and Stellenbosch University, which launched an Electric Mobility Lab this month, dedicated to advancing sustainable transport solutions. <\/p>\n Roam donated two motorcycles to the lab to support research and develop the bikes further. Kituyi hopes that through powertrain efficiency tests and \u201caccelerated testing,\u201d which involves charging and discharging the battery multiple times a day, the startup will gain a better understanding of the life cycles of the bike and the battery. <\/p>\n He adds that \u201caccelerated testing\u201d requires special facilities, and in the past Roam has carried out these tests outside Africa, including <\/strong>in China. The lab will give Roam the opportunity to keep the testing within the continent, which he says will make it more reliable as it\u2019s undertaken in a similar climate, as well as helping to build Africa\u2019s electric vehicle (EV) market. <\/p>\n According to market research firm Mordor Intelligence, the African EV market is worth an estimated $16 billion, and it is projected to reach $25 billion by 2029. It claims this is driven by increased investment, rising EV sales, and government policies that encourage electrification. For example, Rwanda has eliminated import taxes on electric vehicles and is offering incentives for charging infrastructure development. <\/p>\n They added that African startups are dominating the space, since they have designed bikes to withstand local road conditions, do not rely on traditional charging infrastructure, and offer flexible payment options. <\/strong>Rwanda\u2019s Ampersand currently has a fleet of almost 4,000 and expects this to surpass 40,000 by the end of 2026, whereas Spiro has over 18,000 e-bikes on the road across Kenya, Benin, Togo, Rwanda and Uganda, and has launched in Nigeria. <\/p>\n Roam, founded in 2017 and formerly known as Opibus, has seen this transition firsthand. It started by <\/strong>electrifying safari vehicles, before turning to buses and motorcycles. Today, motorcycles are its main focus and it produces around 40 bikes a day, according to Kituyi. Currently, the bikes are available to buy in greater Nairobi, and in early 2025, it will be expanding across the whole of Kenya, as well as entering Uganda and Rwanda. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is a big demand and constant growth of the market for motorcycles,\u201d says Kituyi, adding that he has seen a gradual shift in people\u2019s mindset. \u201cThey are getting more confident with the idea of stopping at a restaurant and asking them for electricity to charge their bike.\u201d <\/p>\n He hopes that the recent expedition will help to build trust in EVs even further. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n An electric motorcycle, made by Swedish-Kenyan manufacturer Roam completed a 6,000-kilometer (3,700-mile) journey from Nairobi, Kenya, to Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 17 days, using only solar power. While the world record for the longest electric motorcycle journey is 25,000 kilometers (11,300 miles), undertaken over 42 days in the US, Roam hopes that its stunt helps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Cloud cover<\/h2>\n
Accelerating market<\/h2>\n