# TCO: electric vs petrol motorcycles in Kenya — the full calculation

> 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.

_Author: Gregory Radek, Co-Founder & CTO — East Africa's leading EV 2W/3W expert (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregradek/) · Source: MargTor Ltd. — https://margtor.africa/knowledge/tco-electric-vs-petrol · Updated 2026-06-10 · License CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) · Attribution: MargTor Ltd., https://margtor.africa_

## Why TCO and not price

An 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.

## Assumptions (Kenya, 2026)

| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Daily distance | 150 km |
| Petrol price | 180 KES / litre |
| Petrol consumption | 45 km / litre |
| ICE maintenance | 4.63 KES / km (oil, chain, clutch, brakes, engine wear) |
| EV energy (grid/solar, via swaps) | 0.40 KES / km |
| EV maintenance | 2.08 KES / km (≈ 45% of ICE) |
| Battery-as-a-Service fee | 425 KES / bike / day |
| Working days | 360 / year |
| FX | 129 KES / USD |

These 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.

## Daily cost per motorcycle

**Petrol (ICE)**
- Fuel: 150 km ÷ 45 km/L × 180 KES = **600 KES**
- Maintenance: 150 km × 4.63 = **695 KES**
- Total ≈ **1,295 KES/day** (≈ $10.03)

**Electric with BaaS**
- Energy: 150 × 0.40 = 60 KES
- Maintenance: 150 × 2.08 = 312 KES
- BaaS fee: 425 KES
- Total ≈ **797 KES/day** (≈ $6.17)

**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**.

## What the simple view hides

- **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.
- **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.
- **Financing.** The battery-less EV is cheaper to finance; BaaS turns the battery into opex. Lenders like the cleaner collateral.
- **Residual value.** Still uncertain for EVs in East Africa; LFP packs with telematics history should hold value better than unknown-history ICE engines.

## Fleet view

For 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.

## Rerun it for your fleet

Use 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`.

*See also: Battery-as-a-Service · The boda-boda economy · Telematics and credit.*