Nigerian motorcycle-hailing company Metro Africa Express (MAX.ng) has built its first electric motorbike in Lagos, Nigeria. The company first announced plans to introduce electric bikes into the market in June after it closed a US$7 million funding round led by Kenyan Novastar Ventures and backed by Japanese manufacturing giant, Yamaha.
“We’re piloting electric motorcycles in partnership with EV manufacturers and working with grid operators across Nigeria to deploy charging stations,” Chief Financial Officer, Bertrand Njoya, told TechCrunch in June.
At TechCabal’s Mobility Townhall last month, Chief Growth Officer, Chinedu Azodoh, reiterated this adding that a key hire had been made to lead the manufacture and deployment of the bikes.
The company is one step closer to its goal with the EV bikes, the MAX E Series 1.
“We’ve figured out a way to convert gas engine bikes to electric bikes. So that’s quite exciting,” Azodoh told TechCabal recently.
MAX says the electric bikes in the MAX E Series 1 will be much faster (moving at 60km/h), smoother, noiseless and definitely safer for the environment. The company is planning to build 20-30 units locally by the end of the month before scaling manufacturing and deploying for customer use.
Infrastructures like charging stations are also being put in place and will make costs effectively cheaper for drivers than the gas alternatives.
“We are building out an entire system around that,” says Azodoh.
