What e-bikes change for last-mile delivery
Most goods in East African towns still cover their last few kilometres on a bicycle or a small petrol motorcycle. The bicycle is cheap to run but slow. The motorcycle is fast but carries a fuel bill, a licence and regular servicing that eats into a rider's day.
An electric kit changes that trade-off rather than adding a third option. Fit a Karaa kit to a standard bicycle and a rider carries up to 100 kg at 32 km/h assisted, over up to 120 km on a charge (50 to 100 km in real township traffic, stop-start included). There’s no fuel to buy: the removable 36V battery charges from any wall socket in six to seven hours, or off solar where the grid is thin.
What changes for a delivery operator
More drops per rider per shift, at a lower cost per drop. A petrol boda boda burns roughly UGX 15,000 in fuel to cover 100 km; the same distance on a Karaa bike costs about UGX 700 of electricity. Over a working week, that gap is close to a rider’s whole fuel bill.
Uptime matters as much as running cost. Because the battery is removable, a rider, or a fleet manager, swaps a flat pack for a charged one in seconds instead of parking the bike on a charger during peak hours. Fleets can add GPS tracking (UGX 245,000) to see where every bike is and how hard it’s being worked.
Why conversion beats buying new
Most riders in Kampala, Kigali or Nairobi already own a bicycle that works. A Karaa Range kit (UGX 1,650,000, up to 120 km per charge) fits that bike rather than replacing it, so an operator scaling a delivery fleet is buying kits and batteries, not a fleet of new vehicles. Kits are assembled in our Kampala workshop and serviced here, so a repair doesn’t wait on an import.
How much does last-mile delivery cost on an electric bike?
About UGX 700 of electricity moves a Karaa bike 100 km, against roughly UGX 15,000 in petrol for the same distance on a boda boda. The kit itself starts at UGX 1,650,000 for the long-range Range kit, or UGX 990,000 for the short-range Lite kit.
If you run delivery routes and want the numbers for your specific loads and distances, message us on WhatsApp or see current kit and bike prices on the Bikes & Kits page.
