Kenya-based Spiro, a leader in two-wheel transportation and battery-swapping, has signed a partnership with Chinese company Yadea, the world’s leading manufacturer of electric two-wheelers, to scale accessible and sustainable electric transport across Africa.
Spiro is Africa’s largest electric mobility company, operating the continent’s most extensive and fastest growing network of battery-swapping for electric two-wheel vehicles. It has operational assembling facilities in Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Togo, Cameroon and Benin.
With more than 95,000 electric motorcycles, over 2,500 battery swapping stations and more than 30 million battery swaps to date, Spiro has achieved over 1 billion kilometres of low-carbon emissions travel, the company is substituting expensive imported fossil fuel- based transportation with affordable, accessible and sustainable solutions. Disrupt Africa reported in June Spiro had raised a further US$55 million in capital to close its latest round of funding at US$270 million, and it has now signed a strategic partnership with Yadea, which operates in more than 100 countries and serves over 100 million users worldwide.
The partnership combines Yadea’s global manufacturing and R&D capabilities with Spiro’s operational network and battery-swapping ecosystem across seven countries. Together, the companies aim to build a scalable, commercially sustainable EV framework serving millions of commercial fleet operators, delivery services, logistics providers, and daily commuters in Africa’s fastest-growing mobility markets.
Under the agreement, Yadea will supply electric two-wheelers and related EV products tailored to Spiro’s expanding regional markets, while Spiro will integrate the vehicles into its proprietary battery-swapping and energy infrastructure. The companies will also co-develop customised two-wheeler platforms engineered specifically for local road conditions and commercial utility across Africa. This partnership deepens the China-Africa connection, pairing Yadea’s manufacturing scale with Spiro’s battery-swapping network and unique knowledge of African market dynamics to accelerate the continent’s transition to affordable electric transport.
“When we launched Spiro, our mission was to lay the energy and mobility foundation for Africa’s green transition. Our strategic partnership with Yadea is a major endorsement of our execution to date and opens fantastic opportunities to jointly pioneer the next era of electric mobility in emerging markets”, stated Gagan Gupta, founder of Spiro and chairman of Equitane.
Anant Badjatya, CEO of Spiro, said Africa’s shift to electric mobility was accelerating and this partnership would help it meet that demand at scale. “By bringing together Yadea’s manufacturing strength with Spiro’s electric mobility ecosystem and operating experience across Africa, we are compressing the timeline to clean transport — helping thousands more riders switch to affordable EVs faster and multiplying our climate impact across the continent,” he said.
Wang Jiazhong, senior vice president of Yadea, said Africa represented a massive frontier for zero-emission transport. “Our mission to reduce carbon emissions has reached a powerful milestone through this partnership with Spiro. Together, we are combining global innovation with local infrastructure to deliver scalable and sustainable mobility solutions that serve millions of riders and transform Africa’s urban transit,” he said.