The expedition highlighted the potential that mobility, powered by renewable energy, had to transform livelihoods across Africa.
An electric motorcycle, designed and built in Africa and powered by the sun, completed its groundbreaking journey from Kenya to South Africa on Wednesday.
Researchers from the faculty of engineering at Stellenbosch University joined forces with Roam, a technology-driven electric mobility company in Nairobi to test the Roam Air it had developed.
The expedition spanned about 6 000km, traversing through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa. On the second last day, the team covered 1 000km in a single day to reach Stellenbosch.
The journey got under way on 17 September, when the support team and a vehicle-based solar power station departed from Stellenbosch. Upon reaching Nairobi on 27 September, they collected the electric motorcycle. The team, led by PhD candidate Stephan Lacock, embarked on their return leg on 29 September
Throughout the trip the motorcycle’s swappable batteries were charged exclusively through solar power, highlighting the viability of renewable energy in real-world applications.
“The journey has actually made us aware of a few things,” said Thinus Booysen, professor of engineering and founder of the Electric Mobility Lab at Stellenbosch University, who joined the expedition team for a week in Zambia and Botswana. “It’s interesting how doing this has shaped our way of thinking about the problem.
“It was very apparent as we moved through Africa how the need is so desperate for mobility. I don’t think I appreciated this sufficiently. It’s amazing how every place we stopped, people would stop, walk up and say, ‘What is this bike, what does it do, can I get one?”
Mobility is a fundamental freedom. “The ability to move around is so important to have a livelihood; it gets you to services, it gets you to hospitals, it gets you to schools. It gets you running a business,” Booysen said.
What was also evident was the desperate need for jobs, particularly in countries like Malawi and Zambia.
“I think that penny dropped for me is that with a job comes dignity and I think to a large extent what we’re fighting for here is for jobs. If we make these vehicles locally, you’re building technical jobs, people will have jobs assembling them and maintaining them. If we import these vehicles from other areas, those jobs are gone,” Booysen said.
The expedition also highlighted the potential that mobility, powered by renewable energy, has to transform livelihoods across Africa, he said.
A bike can run a business. “You can carry people, move them around, you can carry goods, you can take things to market. It’s just incredible how quickly people latched onto this notion that this bike will open up opportunities for me.
“It really blew my mind how many people rode around on normal bicycles and then they’ve got up to 70kg worth of charcoal in the back of the bike. With electric [bikes], everything will move quicker, it will just change their lives,” Booysen said.
Completing the journey marks a historic milestone for Roam Air as the first African-made electric motorcycle to achieve such a feat, said Masa Kituyi, the product owner at the company. “It’s a testament to our commitment to pushing the boundaries of electric mobility.”
From the difficult terrains to the warm welcomes from locals, “we saw the spark of excitement in people’s eyes when they realised this motorcycle was built in Africa”, Kituyi said.
Roam Air’s collaboration with Stellenbosch University “highlighted the resilience of both our teams and technology, proving that clean energy can power not just vehicles, but a brighter, more sustainable future for the continent”, he added.
Despite the successful completion of the journey, the team faced numerous problems along the way. Booysen said rainy weather in Malawi created difficult travel conditions while poor roads tested the vehicle’s durability. Lengthy stops at border crossings added costly delays during precious daylight hours.
“Some issues with solar connectors that were not made for daily disconnecting and reconnecting further complicated the journey,” he said. “However, the team’s resilience and commitment to their mission allowed them to overcome these obstacles, showcasing the strength in collaborative applied research and the viability of solar-powered electric mobility solutions on the continent.”
The technical skills of the engineers came together. “We had a multidisciplinary team of electrical, mechanical, civil and industrial engineers and it was amazing to see how those skills really helped us through all the problem-solving we had to do.”
Electric mobility is not necessarily about lowering Africa’s carbon emissions because the continent is a small contributor to global emissions.
“It’s about clean cities, clean air and it was clear driving through Zambia that the pollution is so bad that you can see what you are breathing. If we just take all of these polluting cars and vehicles off the road, then that’s going to improve substantially already,” Booysen said.
The team saw Africa at its finest, he added. Along the route, they encountered a variety of wildlife, including elephants, rhinos, giraffes, hippos, buffalo, lions, sables, baboons, monkeys and crocodiles.
For Booysen, the journey through the continent’s diverse landscapes reinforced the importance of preserving these environments for future generations and demonstrated how clean energy can play a role in their protection.
“All of that is at risk if we don’t look after the environment, right? That’s the other thing we’ve got to focus on with electric mobility — we’ve got to try to protect the environment.”
Sibusiso Moyo, deputy vice-chancellor for research, innovation and postgraduate study at Stellenbosch University, described their expedition as “not only testimony to the sheer determination of the research team”, but it also showcases African ingenuity.
“My heartfelt gratitude to Roam, our research partner, for donating two Roam electric motorcycles to the Electric Mobility Lab,” Moyo said.
Booysen added he was moved by the leadership shown by the youngsters in the team. “I was blown away by how motivated these guys were to do this. We’re talking 20-somethings and it was amazing to see the collaboration between Kenya and South Africa.