Overview

Spiro is Africa’s largest electric two-wheeler company, operating a battery-swapping network across eight markets, with more than 80,000 electric motorcycles deployed and over 300,000 lithium batteries circulating through 2,500+ swap stations. As Spiro scales toward 2 million bikes by 2030, a growing share of these batteries will reach the end of their productive life in daily high-cycle motorcycle use — while still retaining significant capacity, making them well suited to lower-intensity stationary storage.

Spiro ESS repurposes these second-life batteries into cost-effective Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) before they reach end-of-life recycling. The pilot targets 400 stations — 20% of Spiro’s ~2,000-station Kenyan network — delivering an estimated 571 MWh of modelled storage capacity. Repackaged battery packs will be redeployed for swap-station backup power, mini-grid and commercial/industrial storage, and off-grid or unreliable-grid customers, offering storage at a fraction of the cost of new lithium-ion systems by drawing on a battery fleet Spiro already owns, tracks, and manages end-to-end via its existing cloud-based battery-health platform.

The project closes the loop on Spiro’s own battery lifecycle — extending useful life, deferring the cost and environmental footprint of recycling, and converting an end-of-life liability into a new, recurring revenue stream. It also strengthens grid resilience and clean-energy access in markets where unreliable power remains a binding constraint on business growth and rider livelihoods.

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