Wahu Mobility is developing electric mobility in Ghana

Valerie Labi, co-founder and CEO of Wahu Mobility, an electric bicycle manufacturer and delivery service provider, spoke on the William Davidson Institute on the University of Michigan in April, highlighting that the typical age of vehicles in Ghana is about 14 years. She emphasized her company’s dual mission to handle two critical challenges: designing vehicles adapted to African conditions and offering reliable transportation solutions.

Mobility, in particular electromobility, might help complement lack of a public transport system equipped with vehicles that non-public residents could use. According to recently received a World Bank scholarshipthe price of manufacturing electric vehicles, mainly two- and three-wheelers, has fallen a lot that they constitute a big a part of the national movement towards sustainable mobility.

In February 2024, Wahu Mobility of Ghana inaugurated the country’s inaugural electric vehicle (EV) plant. Founded in 2022 through the merger of Cargo Bikes and Mana Mobility, each African women-owned businesses, Wahu Mobility primarily specializes in electric bicycles adapted to the Ghanaian terrain. This initiative is a part of a broader mission to empower passengers across Ghana.

As reported by Wahu Mobility received a big investment by Blue Lion in 2023 that allowed the corporate to expand production, invest in research and development, put more effort into marketing and expand distribution. While most discussions about electric vehicles revolve across the automotive industry, technology implementation in this sector has been chaoticespecially from American producers.

Wahu brings together Ghanaian talent and experienced engineers and designers from global brands equivalent to BMW and Audi. Labi is a serial entrepreneur with degrees from the University of Southampton and the University of Cambridge.

According to Wahu’s website, the corporate does is committed to creating sustainable transportation accessible to all, which is evident in its lease-to-own program called access to property.

Once the rider has made the initial payment, the bike shall be delivered inside 2-3 business days if e-bikes can be found. Bicycle registration takes place via the Wahu Rider App mobile application. Bike maintenance is not free, but is subsidized, meaning cyclists will only pay a part of the price of repairs.

Ghana also needs infrastructure to charge electric vehicles, which Dr. Aruna Sivakumar, director of the Urban Systems Lab, says it does problem in many developing countries.

As Sivakumar writes on the Energy Futures Lab website: “Therefore, the transition to electrification of road transport must be accompanied by appropriate policies to ensure that accessibility (especially for the poor) is not compromised. Aggressive electrification without consideration of transportation planning and equitable access principles will cause serious complications for low-income populations in these countries.”

In 2023, Impact Hub Accra, Ghana’s social entrepreneurship and innovation hub, established cooperation with Siemens Stiftung in the implementation of the Made In Ghana project to facilitate, amongst other things, the establishment of charging infrastructure in Ghana, the decarbonization of transport in Ghana and the inclusion of stakeholders in the financing equation.

According to Will Senyo, CEO of Impact Hub Africa, it is hoped that investments in Wahu Mobility and other firms operating in the electric vehicle space will translate into more sustainable and inclusive transport in Ghana.

“We are working collaboratively with regional institutions, businesses, scientists and administrations on technical issues to support more sustainable, accessible, inclusive and efficient urban transport in the country,” Senyo said.