{"slug":"tco-electric-vs-petrol","lang":"en","kind":"article","title":"TCO: electric vs petrol motorcycles in Kenya — the full calculation","summary":"A line-by-line comparison of what a boda-boda costs to run on petrol and on swappable batteries, with every assumption stated so you can rerun it for your own fleet.","tags":["tco","economics","kenya","calculator"],"updated":"2026-06-10","reading_minutes":3,"url":"https://margtor.africa/knowledge/tco-electric-vs-petrol","markdown_url":"https://margtor.africa/api/knowledge/tco-electric-vs-petrol.md?lang=en","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"MargTor Ltd., https://margtor.africa"},"author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Gregory Radek","jobTitle":"Co-Founder & CTO, MargTor Ltd.","description":"East Africa's leading industry expert on electric two- and three-wheelers","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregradek/","sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregradek/","https://electro.technology"]},"body":"## Why TCO and not price\n\nAn electric motorcycle usually costs more to buy than a petrol one of the same class. Comparing sticker prices therefore says nothing useful. **Total Cost of Ownership** adds energy, maintenance, financing and downtime over the vehicle's working life — and on that measure the electric boda wins clearly, because it is ridden 100–200 km a day.\n\n## Assumptions (Kenya, 2026)\n\n| Parameter | Value |\n|---|---|\n| Daily distance | 150 km |\n| Petrol price | 180 KES / litre |\n| Petrol consumption | 45 km / litre |\n| ICE maintenance | 4.63 KES / km (oil, chain, clutch, brakes, engine wear) |\n| EV energy (grid/solar, via swaps) | 0.40 KES / km |\n| EV maintenance | 2.08 KES / km (≈ 45% of ICE) |\n| Battery-as-a-Service fee | 425 KES / bike / day |\n| Working days | 360 / year |\n| FX | 129 KES / USD |\n\nThese are the defaults of the interactive calculator on margtor.africa and of the `/api/tools/tco` endpoint; change any of them and the numbers below update.\n\n## Daily cost per motorcycle\n\n**Petrol (ICE)**\n- Fuel: 150 km ÷ 45 km/L × 180 KES = **600 KES**\n- Maintenance: 150 km × 4.63 = **695 KES**\n- Total ≈ **1,295 KES/day** (≈ $10.03)\n\n**Electric with BaaS**\n- Energy: 150 × 0.40 = 60 KES\n- Maintenance: 150 × 2.08 = 312 KES\n- BaaS fee: 425 KES\n- Total ≈ **797 KES/day** (≈ $6.17)\n\n**Saving ≈ 498 KES per day, or 38.5%.** Over 360 days that is ≈ 179,000 KES per motorcycle per year; over five years ≈ **$6,900 per bike**.\n\n## What the simple view hides\n\n- **Fuel volatility.** The ICE line moves with every pump-price change; the EV line is contracted. For a rider, predictability has value on its own.\n- **Downtime.** A petrol bike loses hours to fuel queues and workshop visits; a swap takes 45 seconds. We do not monetise this in the base case, but a fleet operator should.\n- **Financing.** The battery-less EV is cheaper to finance; BaaS turns the battery into opex. Lenders like the cleaner collateral.\n- **Residual value.** Still uncertain for EVs in East Africa; LFP packs with telematics history should hold value better than unknown-history ICE engines.\n\n## Fleet view\n\nFor a 50-bike fleet at the defaults: ≈ **747,000 KES saved per month** and ≈ **$345,000 over five years**. These savings are what makes a swap network pay back in 8–10 months and what allows a SACCO to finance vehicles from the fuel money its members already spend.\n\n## Rerun it for your fleet\n\nUse the calculator at https://margtor.africa/#economics or call `GET https://margtor.africa/api/tools/tco?km_per_day=150&petrol_kes_per_litre=180&fleet_size=50`. AI agents can call the same logic through the MargTor MCP server tool `calculate_tco`.\n\n*See also: Battery-as-a-Service · The boda-boda economy · Telematics and credit.*","related":[{"slug":"solar-swap-hubs-microgrids","lang":"en","kind":"article","title":"Solar swap hubs as village micro-utilities","summary":"A battery-swap station with solar panels and storage is more than a charging point — it is a small power company that earns on charging, powers homes and boats, and frees a village from imported fuel.","tags":["micro-grid","solar","off-grid","rural","energy-access"],"updated":"2026-06-10","reading_minutes":3,"url":"https://margtor.africa/knowledge/solar-swap-hubs-microgrids","markdown_url":"https://margtor.africa/api/knowledge/solar-swap-hubs-microgrids.md?lang=en","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"MargTor Ltd., https://margtor.africa"},"author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Gregory Radek","jobTitle":"Co-Founder & CTO, MargTor Ltd.","description":"East Africa's leading industry expert on electric two- and three-wheelers","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregradek/","sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregradek/","https://electro.technology"]}},{"slug":"energy-storage-ess-africa","lang":"en","kind":"article","title":"Energy storage (ESS) for mobility hubs: chemistry, sizing and failsafes","summary":"An ESS is what lets a swap hub charge from the sun by day and dispense full batteries at night. This article covers LFP chemistry, how to size storage for a 12-bay cabinet, and why a generator is a failsafe rather than a plan.","tags":["ess","energy-storage","lfp","solar","engineering"],"updated":"2026-06-10","reading_minutes":3,"url":"https://margtor.africa/knowledge/energy-storage-ess-africa","markdown_url":"https://margtor.africa/api/knowledge/energy-storage-ess-africa.md?lang=en","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"MargTor Ltd., https://margtor.africa"},"author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Gregory Radek","jobTitle":"Co-Founder & CTO, MargTor Ltd.","description":"East Africa's leading industry expert on electric two- and three-wheelers","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregradek/","sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregradek/","https://electro.technology"]}},{"slug":"telematics-and-credit","lang":"en","kind":"article","title":"Telematics-secured credit: how data makes EV lending bankable","summary":"Most riders have no credit file. A connected vehicle creates one. This article explains how telematics, remote immobilisation and mobile-money repayment data turn a risky loan into a 90%-collection asset.","tags":["telematics","financing","credit","iot","mobile-money"],"updated":"2026-06-10","reading_minutes":3,"url":"https://margtor.africa/knowledge/telematics-and-credit","markdown_url":"https://margtor.africa/api/knowledge/telematics-and-credit.md?lang=en","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"MargTor Ltd., https://margtor.africa"},"author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Gregory Radek","jobTitle":"Co-Founder & CTO, MargTor Ltd.","description":"East Africa's leading industry expert on electric two- and three-wheelers","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregradek/","sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregradek/","https://electro.technology"]}}],"translations":{"en":"https://margtor.africa/knowledge/tco-electric-vs-petrol","sw":"https://margtor.africa/knowledge/tco-electric-vs-petrol?lang=sw","pl":"https://margtor.africa/knowledge/tco-electric-vs-petrol?lang=pl","fr":"https://margtor.africa/knowledge/tco-electric-vs-petrol?lang=fr","zh":"https://margtor.africa/knowledge/tco-electric-vs-petrol?lang=zh"}}