Does an electric bike still work during a power cut?

Yes. A Karaa bicycle rides on whatever charge is already in the battery, and a power cut only becomes a problem if the battery is also empty when it starts. One full charge covers up to 120 km, so most riders have enough range to get through a typical outage without needing to charge at all.

Load-shedding is a fact of life across parts of Uganda, Zambia and Kenya, and it shapes how people think about anything that runs on electricity. The removable battery is the part of a Karaa kit that answers this directly: because it comes off the bike, it can charge anywhere there’s power, at home, at a shop with a generator, or off a solar setup, not only where the bicycle is parked. A rider whose home has no power for a day can carry the battery to wherever the power is and charge it there instead.

A spare battery, at UGX 1,000,000, changes this from a workaround into a non-issue. One battery rides while the other charges, and a household or business with unreliable power always has one ready. Karaa’s battery-as-a-service model is built around exactly this pattern, treating the battery as a portable power resource, not just a bicycle part.

The reverse also holds, and it’s worth stating plainly: a Karaa battery can run small loads directly (a light, a phone, a fan) when it’s off the bike, which is a genuine use during an outage, not just after one.

Common questions

How long does a full charge take? Charging time depends on the charger used; a standard charge from empty takes several hours, which is why keeping a spare battery matters more than fast-charging during outages.

Can I charge the battery from a solar setup? Yes, a Karaa battery charges from any standard power source, including solar, the same as it would from the grid.

See battery and kit pricing on the bikes page, or ask about a spare battery on WhatsApp.