Electric technology company ROAM continues to find success in its native East Africa and is now expanding its production footprint to a new larger facility that’s over 100,000 square feet in size. In the coming years, ROAM intends to bolster is Air electric motorcycle production to fill the new facility’s capacity of 50,000 units per year.
ROAM was founded in 2017 under its original monicker – Opibus, although the company saw a rebranding to ROAM in April 2022. Although ROAM’s origin has Swedish roots, it has always been headquartered in Kenya where it develops, designs, and manufactures electric motorcycles and buses to help transition the African continent toward a future of more sustainable transportation.
Last summer, ROAM officially launched its Air electric motorcycle, complete with two swappable battery packs that combine for 180 km (112 mi) of all-electric range. The frame of the ROAM Air was engineered to handle both the urban and rural terrains of Africa and provides a storage compartment where a traditional fuel tank would be.
The result is an electric motorcycle that is offers class-leading carrying capacity, range, and top speed that is helping ROAM in its goal of easing mass adoption of zero-emission transport across Africa.
With partners like Uber already onboard to deploy its electric motorcycles in East Africa, ROAM has expanded to keep up with demand and improve production efficiencies.
ROAM opens largest electric motorcycle plant in East Africa
ROAM shared details of its new 10,000 square-meter (~107,650 sq.-ft.) facility in Nairobi, Kenya earlier today. The relocation is called ROAM Park and will now become home to the company’s East African headquarters and development/battery labs, in addition to its Air electric motorcycle production.
The new footprint which ROAM describes as “double the size of the International Space Station,” has the capabilities for an annual production capacity of 50,000 Airs per year. ROAM is not at that output level yet, but intends to reach it in a couple of years – all while remaining a carbon-neutral assembly facility.
ROAM states the new facility allows it to combine production, distribution, and storage operations of the electric motorcycles under one roof, reducing its overall carbon footprint while simultaneously improving efficiency.
The company current employs over 150 highly skilled individuals local to East Africa and growth is expected to continue through 2023 to meet EV demand. Operations of the new facility are being lead by ROAM’s chief operations officer and former Tesla employee, Brett Mangel. Mangel spoke:
Moving ahead with this new production facility represents a significant step forward in bringing sustainable mobility solutions to Kenya. With some of the brightest talent, key partners, and access to a good infrastructure and logistics network, Roam is confident that this new location is a step in the right direction.
The ROAM team explained to us that its new facility in Nairobi caters specifically to motorcycle production and that its all-electric transit buses are being assembled at a separate facility in Africa with a production partner.
