The recent progress made on the continent in the electrification of mototaxis and the emergence of battery swapping technologies offer promising prospects. The observed growth of the e-bodas fleet in East Africa raises hopes that this change in motorisation will both improve mototaxis drivers revenues and reduce their environmental impact (air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, noise, etc.).
In a consortium with Nodalis and Setec, Transitec is carrying out a study in Benin on behalf of the World Bank to design a mechanism for renewing and electrifying the fleet of zémidjans (motorcycle taxis) in Grand Nokoué, the country's main urban area. A diagnosis of the Zemidjans sector allowed us to gain a better understanding of their daily lives, their economic model and organisation, as well as the measures taken by the public authorities to regulate the sector. The interviews with the zémidjans revealed an economy that is both essential to the daily commute of the inhabitants of Grand Nokoué but also extremely fragile and precarious.
The benchmark conducted by Transitec also shows that Benin's situation, with relatively low petrol prices and a historical supply of cheap "kpayo" (smuggled petrol from Nigeria) is not the most favourable on the continent.
The next stages of the study should identify measures to improve the competitiveness of e-Zemidjans and facilitate the arrival of new players and investors in this segment, allowing a gradual renewal of the fleet. The potential role of electrification in the gradual formalisation of mototaxis will also be explored, and will feed into the roadmap for professionalising the sector that the Beninese authorities, with the support of the World Bank, are planning. With this study, Transitec confirms its commitment to the professionalization of paratransit in Africa and continues to consolidate its in-house expertise in this field.