Electrifying motorcycle taxi (boda-boda) services offers a significant opportunity to reduce emissions and petroleum dependence in rapidly growing African cities. Still, large-scale deployment of electric two-wheelers (E2Ws) can stress distribution networks if infrastructure planning is not grid-aware. This study develops an integrated techno-economic and policy framework to evaluate battery-swapping–based electrification of boda-boda fleets in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA). GPS-derived travel-demand data are used to characterize rider duty cycles and temporal energy demand, which inform a geospatial optimization of battery-swapping and charging hubs constrained by feeder routes. Comparative total cost-of-ownership analysis and feeder-level power-flow simulations assess infrastructure performance under alternative tariff and demand-side management regimes. A randomized controlled trial evaluates financing schemes for operators, while an energy-oriented input–output model linked to the KAMPALA-TIMES transport module estimates macroeconomic ripple effects. Results show that hybrid swap–charge configurations reduce ownership costs by 18–27%, maintain feeder utilization below 85% of design capacity, and deliver measurable reductions in energy and carbon intensities of GDP. The study provides a grid-compatible, investment-ready roadmap for the deployment of electric motorcycles in Sub-Saharan African cities.
Kimuli et al. (Fri,) studied this question.