Ampersand

Ampersand is an electric-motorcycle manufacturer and battery-swap network founded in 2016 and headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda, with operations extending to Kenya. It addresses the high daily fuel and leasing costs faced by motorcycle-taxi drivers across East Africa, who form a large share of urban public transport in the region.

The company builds electric motorcycles with in-house lithium iron phosphate battery packs, swapped at dedicated stations in under two minutes to avoid charging downtime, while its AmperOps software uses predictive analytics to manage battery health and station logistics. As of 2026 Ampersand reports over 10,000 e-motorcycles in operation and about 20,000 daily battery swaps across its network.

1. Electric motorcycle fleet: purpose-built e-motos for commercial taxi riders.

2. Battery-swap stations: sub-two-minute swaps removing charging downtime.

3. In-house battery packs: lithium iron phosphate cells engineered for swap durability.

4. AmperOps: predictive software for battery health and station logistics.

5. Rider earnings model: lower daily running cost compared to petrol motorcycles.