Kenya’s electric mobility transition is moving deeper into the commercial transport market as NCBA Group and electric vehicle company BasiGo partner to finance up to 1,000 electric vehicles, bringing bank-backed asset finance and leasing closer to public transport operators and businesses seeking to reduce fuel costs and exposure to volatile operating expenses. The agreement is significant because Kenya’s e-mobility market has expanded rapidly in recent years, but adoption of larger electric vehicles has remained constrained by high upfront costs. While electric motorcycles have accounted for much of the country’s early electric vehicle growth, buses, vans and other commercial vehicles require substantially larger amounts of capital. The NCBA-BasiGo arrangement therefore places financing alongside vehicle supply, charging infrastructure and local assembly as a central component of Kenya’s transition to cleaner transport.
Under the partnership, established public service vehicle SACCOs and companies will be able to access financing of up to 90% of an electric vehicle’s asset value over 60 months, while individual SACCO members can access up to 80% financing over 48 months. The financing package also includes a discounted processing fee of 1.5%, according to information provided by the companies. NCBA has committed KES 2 billion to electric mobility financing and says more than KES 800 million has already been deployed into sustainable mobility assets. The latest partnership expands that financing activity by linking bank capital directly to BasiGo’s electric vehicle portfolio and the operators expected to put those vehicles into daily commercial use.
That distinction is important for Kenya’s transport market. The economics of electric mobility are different for a commercial operator whose vehicle runs several hours each day compared with a private vehicle used occasionally. Higher utilisation can provide greater scope to recover the initial cost of an electric vehicle through lower expenditure on fuel and potentially reduced maintenance requirements. According to the Electric Mobility Association of Kenya, the country had more than 35,000 registered electric vehicles by the end of 2025. The figure illustrates the speed at which the market has developed, although two-wheelers account for a substantial share of the total. The transition to larger commercial vehicles remains more capital intensive, placing greater importance on financing mechanisms that can align repayment periods with operators’ cash flows.
For SACCOs and fleet operators, the question is therefore not simply whether electric vehicles are cleaner. It is whether the total cost of ownership can compete with conventional vehicles over the asset’s operating life. Financing structures that reduce the initial capital requirement can make that calculation more manageable, but the outcome will still depend on electricity prices, vehicle utilisation, battery performance, maintenance costs, route characteristics and passenger revenues.
BasiGo has been developing its business around that commercial proposition. The company has deployed electric buses in Kenya and has expanded into electric vans, including its Ma3e model, which is being locally assembled with Associated Vehicle Assemblers in Mombasa. Local assembly is important to the development of the domestic e-mobility ecosystem because it can create manufacturing and technical-service opportunities while reducing reliance on fully built imported vehicles.
The company has also developed a Pay-As-You-Drive model intended to structure payments around vehicle usage. That approach reflects an effort to address one of the most persistent barriers to electric vehicle adoption: the mismatch between relatively high acquisition costs and the daily cash flows of transport operators. The NCBA partnership introduces a more conventional bank-financing route alongside that model. For established transport businesses, leasing and asset finance can allow operators to acquire vehicles without committing the entire purchase price upfront. The structure also gives financial institutions a direct role in assessing the commercial viability of electric transport assets.
The development follows similar activity elsewhere in Kenya’s banking sector. KCB Group has previously partnered with BasiGo to finance electric public service buses, demonstrating growing interest among financial institutions in the country’s emerging electric transport market. This trend reflects a broader evolution in sustainable finance. Green finance is increasingly moving beyond project-level environmental commitments towards financing physical assets that can generate both commercial returns and environmental benefits. Transport is particularly relevant because road vehicles account for a significant share of urban energy consumption and air pollution, while commercial fleets are among the assets with the greatest potential for systematic replacement.
Kenya’s electricity system also gives the transition a particular economic context. The country’s generation mix has a large renewable component, including geothermal, hydro, wind and solar power. As electric vehicles replace petrol and diesel consumption with electricity, part of the country’s transport-energy demand can consequently shift towards its domestic electricity system. That does not mean electrification automatically eliminates environmental or economic risks. The benefits depend partly on how electricity is generated, how charging is managed and whether the grid and charging infrastructure can accommodate additional demand. It also means that transport and energy planning increasingly need to be considered together.
Kenya Power has been developing electric vehicle charging infrastructure as part of efforts to support the country’s growing e-mobility market. BasiGo has also established charging facilities to support its electric bus operations. The expansion of charging infrastructure is particularly important for commercial fleets because vehicles operate according to fixed schedules and cannot afford extended periods of uncertainty over charging availability.
The infrastructure challenge becomes more complex as electric vehicles move beyond pilot projects into larger fleets. Operators require predictable charging locations, adequate electricity capacity, reliable equipment, maintenance services and systems capable of supporting vehicles during peak operating periods. Banks financing those vehicles also have an interest in ensuring that the surrounding infrastructure is sufficiently developed to protect the value and utilisation of the assets they finance.
This creates an interconnected investment chain. Vehicle manufacturers and assemblers require customers; operators require financing; financiers require commercially viable assets; and all three depend on charging infrastructure and reliable electricity supply. The development of one component without the others can limit the speed of market expansion. The commercial scale of the NCBA-BasiGo agreement is therefore important. A target of 1,000 vehicles creates a sufficiently large financing pipeline to test whether electric mobility can move beyond demonstration projects and become a mainstream asset-financing category.
It also provides an opportunity to generate operating data. Financial institutions and operators will increasingly need evidence on electric vehicle residual values, battery degradation, maintenance costs, utilisation rates and repayment performance. Such information could influence how banks price future electric mobility loans and determine which customer segments are most suitable for financing. For Kenya’s public transport industry, the financial question is particularly significant. Many operators operate on tight margins and face high exposure to fuel prices, maintenance expenses and vehicle financing costs. An electric vehicle may reduce some operating costs, but the financing structure must still reflect the realities of daily transport revenues.
There is also a wider policy dimension. Kenya has positioned electric mobility as part of its broader climate and energy transition agenda, with the government seeking to increase the adoption of electric vehicles while encouraging investment in charging infrastructure and local manufacturing. The success of those policies will depend partly on whether private operators can adopt the technology at commercially viable prices.
For Africa more broadly, Kenya’s experience offers a useful case for how financial institutions can participate in the transition. Many African cities face rapidly growing transport demand, ageing vehicle fleets and high dependence on imported petroleum products. Electrification could reduce exposure to international fuel-price volatility, but the upfront cost of vehicles remains a barrier in markets where operators have limited access to long-term finance. The emergence of bank-backed electric mobility financing could help address that constraint, particularly when financing is combined with leasing, local assembly, battery and charging innovations, and predictable transport revenues. However, the model will need to demonstrate that lower operating costs can compensate for acquisition costs while maintaining reliable service.
The 1,000-vehicle target will ultimately be measured less by the financing commitment itself than by actual deployment. If operators take up the financing, vehicles enter service at scale and repayment performance remains strong, financial institutions could gain greater confidence in financing electric assets. For NCBA, BasiGo and Kenya’s wider financial and transport sectors, the partnership therefore represents a test of whether green finance can translate into measurable changes in everyday economic activity. For policymakers, it provides another indication that the country’s electric mobility transition is increasingly becoming a question of finance, infrastructure and commercial viability rather than technology alone.
The next phase of Kenya’s e-mobility market will depend on whether these pieces can develop together. More vehicles will require more chargers; more chargers will require coordinated electricity investment; and more operators will require financing structures that reflect the economics of commercial transport.
If those conditions are met, electric mobility could become an increasingly important component of Kenya’s transport and energy systems, with implications for fuel imports, operating costs, manufacturing, employment and urban environmental quality. The NCBA-BasiGo partnership places financial capital directly into that transition, providing an indication of how Kenya’s green-finance market is beginning to move from sustainability commitments towards financing the assets required for a lower-carbon economy.
