Electric bus assembler BasiGo has doubled its monthly assembly output to 20 buses after raising Sh5.4 billion last year, as it moves to clear a growing backlog of over 500 undelivered orders.
The company says most of the newly raised funds were channeled into capital expenditure, including purchasing assembly kits, tools, and setting up charging depots. The remainder was used to hire workers to scale up production.
The October 2024 capital raise, led by African infrastructure financier Africa50, marked BasiGo’s first major venture capital round and was aimed at expanding its operations beyond Kenya while boosting its ability to meet local demand.
At the previous production rate, the backlog would have taken nearly 42 years to clear, significantly limiting the firm’s growth ambitions outside Kenya.
“Assembly has increased. When we first started it was taking a very long time, now we deliver up to 10 buses a month and from quarter three we’ll be able to deliver 20 buses a month,” BasiGo CEO Moses Nderitu told the Business Daily in an interview.
Unlike diesel or petrol buses, BasiGo does not sell its electric buses outright. Instead, it offers them through a lease model, where operators pay a Sh1 million deposit and then Sh65 per kilometre, with a minimum usage of 6,000 kilometres –or Sh390,000– per month.
Founded in 2021, BasiGo was Kenya’s first electric bus company and remains the only local assembler of e-buses. However, despite four years operation, it has only delivered 51 buses, averaging one bus per month.
BasiGo has since expanded into Rwanda, where it imports and sells complete e-buses. But in Kenya, where it locally assembles buses, meeting demand has proven more difficult.
It stopped accepting new deposits after surpassing 500 orders last year, yet demand has continued to grow.
“We no longer take deposits on new orders... we just take their details and add them to the waitlist which is now at over 1,000,” said Mr Nderitu.
With its ramped-up production, BasiGo plans to deliver 80 more buses by December –nearly double the total it has supplied over the past four years –bringing the total number of e-buses it has put on Kenyan roads to 130, cutting the backlog to around 400.
“It’s encouraging that even with the delays and the backlog, we still see a very good appetite for the buses and we’re not seeing any clients dropping off despite the long wait,” said Mr Nderitu.
In addition to boosting assembly, BasiGo has used part of the funds to build more charging depots along key corridors in Nairobi, particularly near the city’s busiest highways like Jogoo Road, Thika Road, and Ngong Road.
The firm hopes to halve the current backlog by the end of next year, paving the way to reopen for new orders as Kenya’s electric mobility journey gains momentum.
