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BasiGo, a Nairobi-based electric vehicle (EV) company, has inked a new deal with KCB Bank to enable the scaling of electric PSV operations in Kenya. As a result, KCB Bank customers can now access financing options to purchase electric Public Service Vehicles (PSV). Customers will enjoy a three-year loan facility covering up to 90 percent of the Sh5 million purchase price.
KCB Customers Can Now Invest In Electric Buses In Latest Deal with BasiGo
BasiGo has been piloting two electric passenger buses in Nairobi, in partnership with Citi Hoppa and East Shuttles, since March 2022. In this piloting phase, the company says the electric buses have covered 90,000km, ferrying over 112,000 passengers. BasiGo is importing fully built buses from BYD Auto, a global producer of electric buses.
“The key to getting electric buses on the road in Kenya is to make them affordable to PSV owners. The partnership we have signed today with KCB Bank is game-changing. It will allow bus owners to secure asset financing for an electric bus exactly in line with how they have been purchasing diesel buses.,” said Jit Bhattacharya, CEO, and co-Founder at BasiGo.
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The company sells electric buses directly or under a lease model, keeping ownership of the buses’ batteries. Ultimately, the battery is leased to the PSV operator for Sh20 per kilometer via Pay-As-You-Drive.
The electric buses will come with embedded tracking and fleet management hardware already installed, as well as insurance financing.
BasiGo’s efforts to push towards electrifying mobility have also not gone unrecognized. A few months ago, the company won the Keeling Curve Prize (KCP), taking home $25,000. The prize is a program of the Global Warming Mitigation Project (GWMP). This is towards those projects with show success in reducing, eliminating, avoiding, or drawing down greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.
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