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From electric motorcycles to battery-swapping stations and e-buses, Chinese technology is popping up all over Africa — and Uganda is no exception. Can it benefit from this transport transformation in the long run?
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00:00When you travel on Africa's roads today, you'll notice Chinese brands are hard to miss.
00:06Is China shaping the continent's mobility future?
00:09From electric motorcycles to battery swapping stations and electric buses,
00:14Chinese technology is becoming increasingly visible.
00:18In Uganda, that transformation is picking up pace.
00:22Can the country serve as a blueprint for what is happening across Africa
00:26and benefit from this development in the long term?
00:30Mobility on the continent has always been a story of shifting power and influence.
00:35To understand where Africa's journey is heading, we have to go back more than 700 years.
00:42To the time of Mansa Musa, ruler of the great Mali Empire and, some people say, the wealthiest individual in
00:50history.
00:51His pilgrimage to Mecca involved a trek across northern Africa with his vast cargo carried by camels in the Sahara,
00:59then by donkeys, while horses transported soldiers, messengers, and officials.
01:05Mobility technology, in short, was indigenous and powered by muscle.
01:09Until another source of power arrived from outside Africa, the internal combustion engine.
01:15The colonial era redrew Africa's transport map. Roads, ports, railways, all networks were designed to move
01:24Africa's natural resources into global markets.
01:28In Uganda, historical records date one of the earliest automobiles in the then Protectorate to the early 1900s,
01:36an Albion motor car imported by British colonial administrator Sir Hesketh Bell.
01:41While cars were initially seen as symbols of colonial authority, African elites soon began acquiring them too.
01:49Daudi Chua II of the Kingdom of Buganda was among the first African automobile owners.
01:55And gradually, the motor car evolved from curiosity to coveted status symbol.
02:01For decades, European brands dominated African roads before a new contender arrived, Japan.
02:09Japanese manufacturers became known for making the kinds of vehicles that could handle tough conditions
02:15on the continent. One of the biggest arenas for testing this was right here in East Africa,
02:19in the safari rally.
02:22Going through muddy conditions, going through rocks, climbing up mountains.
02:27Yeah, they made a point that this is a car for this terrain, this is a car for this continent.
02:35Japanese cars were no longer simply newcomers, they were proving themselves.
02:40Performance fueled credibility, and credibility created demand.
02:45This indirectly propelled the used car industry in Uganda.
02:50The case for Uganda especially, and to the same extent maybe places like Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania,
02:56there's a used car market that is predominantly Japanese domestic market vehicles. No one in Japan
03:03wants to drive it, so those cars are shipped here. We're happy to buy them, and we'll run them maybe
03:08another 10 years. The balance of power on Uganda's roads was shifting, but the next mobility revolution
03:14would not happen on four wheels, it would come on two.
03:21The bicycle had long been used to move people and goods. But the addition of an engine gave birth to
03:31a new public transport phenomenon in Uganda known as boda bodas.
03:38In 2023-2024, we imported 500,917 motorcycles into Uganda, not counting those that were assembled within here.
03:52Motorcycle taxis transformed first and last mile mobility, reaching places cars often couldn't.
04:04And in the early days, Japan was a major supplier of the motorcycles that powered this revolution
04:11across East Africa.
04:15They came to tackle a market that was not tackled by then, but eventually as they come in,
04:21they realize they are not just bridging a gap, but they are becoming a lifestyle. They are becoming
04:26a way of income to different people. They are becoming an easiest way of transportation.
04:31By the 1990s, motorcycle taxis were booming, transforming how Ugandans got around.
04:38Boda Boda is the Ugandan metro. It's the Ugandan bus.
04:42But mobility markets never stand still. By the early 2000s, Indian manufacturers were challenging
04:48Japan's dominance with motorcycles specifically built for African roads and the demands of commercial
04:54transport. The market that the Indians came looking at exploring more was a person carrying a person.
05:00So that eventually became a way of life. By 2010, TVS and Bajaj Boxer Motorcycles had largely replaced
05:09the Yamaha Mate, which had powered the early days of Uganda's boda boda economy. Meanwhile,
05:15another shift in the mobility race was already gathering speed.
05:20Japan found its advantage on four wheels, backed by sustained government demand and a fast-growing
05:27market for used cars.
05:28They would create a specification that was low on luxury comforts and higher on reliability. It was
05:39also low on horsepower. India found its edge on two wheels, driven by the booming boda boda industry.
05:48And then came the next seismic shift, electricity.
05:54For more than a century, the internal combustion engine dominated road transport.
06:00Now, the engine is being challenged by batteries, electric motors and software. And Africa is part of that race.
06:09It has been a great transition, big transition, big innovation happening. There's been a high level
06:15adoption of technology.
06:17Ricky Rapa co-founded Uganda's pioneering ride-hailing platform Safeboda, used by more than 30,000 riders
06:24across the country. Now, he's helping them switch to electric mobility.
06:31There's nothing as important as protecting what we already have. Our environment is the best thing
06:36that we can all, that we want to enjoy. For example, right now fuel is around, I would say,
06:441.8 US dollars, that's around 6,700 per liter, which will give you 70 kilometers. But a full charge,
06:54which is around 6,000 Ugandan shillings, that's around 1.5 US dollars, will eventually give you 80 kilometers.
07:02So, it means you're already saving, but on top of saving, you have a sense of saving the environment.
07:14So, if electric technology can reduce operating costs, it could change the economics of the entire industry.
07:22But this time, the biggest disruption is coming from a new industrial power, China.
07:29China. In Africa's overall mobility story, China appeared relatively late. But in the continent's
07:36electric era, China's presence is hard to ignore. The country has an edge in manufacturing, electronics,
07:43and perhaps most importantly, batteries. Because when it comes to e-mobility, batteries may be as
07:49strategically important now, as the engine once was. Most of our products are coming from China,
07:54they are manufactured in China. Brendan Kachenje runs one of Africa's largest electric mobility
08:00companies. Spiro has strong partnerships with Chinese suppliers providing parts, batteries,
08:06and technology. You're able to produce one bike, one complete bike, every one minute. And what you see here
08:14is able to give you 486,000 bikes in a year. In Kampala, Spiro bikes are becoming part of the
08:21city's
08:22bustling transport landscape. In under two years, more than 35,000 of its e-bikes hit the roads.
08:29But there's a deeper story unfolding here. Africa is competitively benchmarking China
08:34and is beginning to build its own industry. By the time we are assembling them, we are also
08:40learning them. Because if you are able to assemble, you are able to understand the technology,
08:44what's required to assemble. And then once we get that skill, we are able to train the local partners.
08:51At this facility in Kampala, Spiro has built the city's largest battery swap station.
08:57China supplies the technology, while young Ugandans gain the skills to operate and maintain it.
09:04We are rolling out most of solar hubs and solar stations. We have a clear plan. You know,
09:09they are one of the biggest manufacturers of the panels. They also, you know, panels can't go
09:14alone without the batteries. They are also one of the biggest manufacturers and producers of the batteries.
09:19Brendan Katchenge says that while this electric transition is a major market opportunity for
09:24China, it's also an industrial experiment for Africa. The same way we are trying to do,
09:30they have been doing it in the past. They built the capacity, they trained their people,
09:34they supported the processes. Now they are able to do whatever is needed to support
09:39all types of businesses. We are trying to follow their footsteps.
09:42At Kira Motors, Uganda has taken the energy transition even further. Local engineers are
09:48building electric buses for African roads, with parts and technology mainly hailing from China.
09:54When we were using the internal combustion engine vehicles, we were importing the vehicles.
09:59We were importing the oil of fuel that actually runs those vehicles. What the Chinese have been able
10:06now they bring, they bring these cars, yeah, to Africa, where the energy to run them is cheap.
10:15Comes a point where we've basically ramped up our power generation, yeah, and we have the natural energy from the
10:23sun.
10:24Uganda's government, which owns Kira Motors, says that local manufacturing does not have to begin with
10:29making every component from scratch. It can begin with assembling, giving the locals an opportunity to
10:35gather much needed experience. Uganda has a very good produce that we call localization and Spiro is
10:41compliant to that. We are working hard to ensure that we can localize our bike as much as we should.
10:47Across Africa, Chinese manufacturers are adapting electric vehicles to local needs.
10:52In neighboring Kenya, the Henry EV is being positioned for the taxi market.
10:58European manufacturers were happy to deal with the mainstream European and American markets.
11:05The underserved African market and basically the third world countries, some of the poorer South
11:11American countries, they ignored and said we don't have to, if we don't sell any vehicles there, it is fine.
11:17So the Chinese were like, okay, we are going to struggle to compete with the Europeans on their turf.
11:24So let's look for all these other markets and tune, you know, design something, fine-tune it,
11:30and give it to them and it has worked.
11:32In Kampala, Chinese three-wheelers are helping small businesses move light cargo the last mile.
11:39Even where they still run on gasoline, these vehicles show how quickly Chinese manufacturers
11:44are adapting mobility solutions for African markets and the wider global South.
11:50That's home to over 80% of the world's population.
11:54We are looking at people who are earning $1,000 a month, people who are earning $100 a month,
12:00and they're saying, can we create a product for that person?
12:05And I think they've been able to pull that off, yeah?
12:08And again, like I said, the downside of that is that don't expect the life to be very long, yeah?
12:17But hopefully it will get you from a point where you're able to grow your business
12:22so that you're able to buy another one, either the same replacement or even upgrade.
12:26Africa has something the world needs, a young and growing population with huge mobility demands.
12:32But it also has something even more strategic, many of the critical minerals needed for the electric transition.
12:40Across the continent, countries are asking how to move beyond exporting raw materials
12:45and capture more of the value chain at home.
12:47So China, surprisingly, comes, takes minerals, you know, steel, whatever, and ships it to China, yeah?
12:58They make millions of components, which are then shipped back here, and then we do the same.
13:04We basically do nuts and bolts.
13:07But what if we understood and had the technology that actually turns our raw materials into these components here?
13:15It takes time because there's a lot of engineering work, there's a lot of quality required, there's a lot of
13:20assurance.
13:21So it takes time. So we are on that journey.
13:23And in many places, China is offering technology and investment in exchange for access to resources,
13:30raising a bigger question. Who will really control Africa's electric mobility future?
13:35The Chinese and Americans, they are racing ahead to improve these technologies.
13:40And for us to get into that, we are not going to do that by just copying, seeing people assembling
13:47vehicles, no.
13:49You need to get into the microchip that controls the batteries and the motor and the transmission,
13:53all that, and how it works. And, yeah, that is how we will be able to compete with them, using,
14:01and then we can use the advantage of our own materials locally, our own people.
14:06If you look closely at Africa's mobility history, you can see a pattern emerge. Whenever technology
14:12changes, the dominant players change too. But one thing hasn't changed. Africa keeps moving.
14:19From the camel to the internal combustion engine, and now to batteries, electronics, and software,
14:26Africa is in the midst of another mobility revolution.
14:30Spiro is in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Mali, Ghana, and DRC. We are moving into
14:42Morocco, Ethiopia. So whatever you've seen and appreciated in Uganda
14:49is exactly the same happening to the rest of Africa.
14:52And with the world's youngest population, demand for mobility will only grow.
14:57But this time, will Africa simply adopt the technology or help shape it?