The idea in one sentence
Sell (or lease) the motorcycle without its battery, and sell battery access as a subscription. The rider's upfront price drops by a third, the operator keeps control of the asset that determines safety and lifetime, and energy becomes a predictable daily cost like fuel used to be — only cheaper.
How the money flows
- Vehicle: bought outright or on lease-to-own over 18–36 months; priced at battery-less cost.
- BaaS fee: either per swap (30–60 KES per pack in Kenya) or a flat daily fee. MargTor's TCO model uses 425 KES per bike per day, covering unlimited swaps within the network, battery degradation, cabinet energy and software.
- Operator: owns the battery fleet (typically 1.5–2 packs per vehicle), the cabinets and the data. Revenue is recurring; margin comes from solar-first energy and scale.
Riders pay by mobile money each day, so the operator sees cash-flow and vehicle usage in real time. That data is also the basis for telematics-secured credit on the vehicle itself.
Why BaaS matters in Africa
- Affordability. A 72 V, 2.5 kWh LFP pack can cost as much as a used petrol motorcycle. Removing it from the sticker price is the difference between a sale and no sale.
- Battery lifetime. Supervised charging at controlled current and temperature in a cabinet extends cycle life far beyond home charging with cheap chargers.
- Safety. No charging in bedrooms; thermal monitoring and automatic cut-off in the cabinet.
- Technology refresh. When better cells arrive, the operator upgrades the pool; riders benefit without buying a new vehicle.
- Second life. Packs that fall below 80% capacity move to stationary use — home lighting, shop power, ESS — before recycling.
Risks and how they are managed
| Risk | Mitigation |
|---|---|
| Battery theft or non-return | Packs are locked to the network; a pack outside the system is a brick; GPS in each pack |
| Degradation faster than planned | LFP chemistry, charge-rate limits, cell-level monitoring, warranty from the cell group |
| Low utilisation at launch | Start with SACCO anchor groups of 50–100 riders per hub; phase cabinets with demand |
| FX and import duty on packs | Local assembly in a Special Economic Zone; buyer-credit financing in hard currency |
MargTor's position
In MargTor-engineered deployments the battery risk stays with the engineering side — the capital group supplies cells and packs with full traceability, and MargTor designs the cabinet, the BMS integration and the telematics so that the operator can price BaaS with confidence. In the anonymized Tanzanian pilot, BaaS is what delivers the 38.5% daily saving to riders while the operator earns a 45.5% net margin.
See also: Battery swapping explained · TCO: electric vs petrol · Telematics and credit.