Trip-hailing large Bolt is rolling out electrical tricycles in Lagos because it pushes to increase its electrical car (EV) footprint throughout West Africa. Beginning in Might, the corporate will deploy 25 tricycles developed in partnership with SGX Mobility, a Lagos-based electrical mobility firm.

The launch builds on Bolt’s present tricycle enterprise in Nigeria, the place it already provides keke rides in cities like Jos and Uyo. However that is its first electrical model within the nation. Riders in Lagos can now select electrical tricycles as a trip possibility straight within the Bolt app.

Every electrical tricycle will value ₦3.2 million ($1,996), with drivers required to make a ₦208,000 ($130) down fee and unfold the remainder over 18 to 24 months. Lease funds are available at ₦32,000 ($20) weekly or ₦156,000 ($97) month-to-month. Every day battery swaps value round ₦6,500 ($4.06)—roughly half the every day gasoline value of a petrol-powered keke.

“This launch is about constructing an ecosystem, not simply introducing autos,” Caroline Wanjihla, Bolt Africa’s spokesperson, instructed TechCabal on the launch occasion on Wednesday. “We’re betting on driver economics. EV tricycles have decrease working prices. And with our lease mannequin, drivers can personal their autos in two years, whereas saving on gasoline and upkeep from day one.”

Bolt can be working a lease-to-own financing mannequin that has lately come beneath scrutiny. Drivers on platforms like Moove and LagRide have lengthy complained of rigid compensation phrases, mounting defaults, and car repossessions. Many ended up working lengthy hours simply to interrupt even. Bolt says its lease-to-own mannequin is constructed in a different way with decrease entry prices, predictable weekly funds, and a decrease fee fee. 

“With Lagride and Moove, we’re costlier autos. The tricycles are less expensive, and the fee is versatile. We’re additionally tweaking the mannequin to permit for 15% fee versus 25% charged on autos,”  Zankyang Duniya, Operations Supervisor at Bolt, mentioned through the press briefing. 

The tricycles can hit high speeds of 80km/h and run for as much as 12 hours on a full cost, in line with Ayo Mustapha, Company Finance Supervisor at SGX.  The tricycles additionally function on a battery swap mannequin. Drivers will have the ability to shortly change batteries at a swap station situated in Eagle Sq., Surulere, a system designed to minimise downtime and make every day earnings extra predictable.

Bolt EV tricycle launch additionally comes at a time when native cycle staff are exploring alternate options to gasoline-powered tricycles resulting from elevated gasoline costs. Some have turned to compressed pure fuel (CNG), changing their autos to run on the cheaper gasoline as a stopgap. However entry to dependable refueling infrastructure stays patchy, and the price of conversion continues to be a barrier for many low-income drivers. Bolt’s EV push now enters that very same dialog, with the added promise of possession and 0 greenhouse fuel emissions.

Within the quick time period, Bolt is taking a cautious method, watching how drivers and riders adapt to the brand new autos. If demand falls quick, the corporate says it’s ready to tweak the lease construction, redeploy belongings, or decelerate growth. But when the rollout sticks, Bolt plans to increase the mannequin to different Nigerian cities and into extra African markets, together with Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, and Tunisia.

The wager is that Lagos, for all its gridlock, is prepared for electrical autos if the economics and infrastructure are constructed proper. Bolt thinks it might probably do each.