Two years after launching electric vehicles, some motorists have raised concern over high cost and limited access to charging stations.

The government has an ambitious target to increase the number of electric vehicles and motorcycles to reduce carbon emissions.

There are approximately more than 5,000 electric vehicles in the country and most of them are used in delivering goods and services.

This is in comparison to more than 40,000 commercial fuel motorcycles in the country which are mostly gasoline-powered.

For instance, Hategekimana Jean Baptiste, 42, has been riding an electric motorcycle for eight months.

He complains about high price of electric vehicles and the shortage of charging and swapping stations.

“Though it is good, it is expensive and unaffordable for anyone, it costs at least Rwf 1.5 million. This is still the issue because the gasoline powered motors available cost less...

“We still have few charging stations only in Kigali, you can’t move out of Kigali, you can struggle when it powers off,” he said.

Another electric motorcyclist Byiringiro Cassien says when it rains or other water exposure the motorcycles dont move.

“These motorcycles use electricity and sometimes an electric circuit occurs which is a risky problem which can lead to fire and there is no fire extinguisher but it is rare to happen,” he said.

An electric motor takes less than 20 minutes to be fully charged when it is plugged to a speed charger station which allows it to travel 70 km.

The cost of charging is seemingly cheaper compared with fuel cost.

“It cost me only Rwf2000 a day for charging...” Said Mr Byiringiro.

The gasoline motorcyclists complained that the cost of fuel is high compared with charging costs.

“I consume above Rwf5000 of fuel per day, I spend money also on engine breakdown and other risks like wheel bursts,” Mr Byiringiro added.

Josh Whale, executive director of Ampersand, an e-mobility company said Rwanda has achieved electricity accessibility.

The company has also started a new system of exchanging the gasoline motorcycles for electric systems.

 This is done by changing engine to batteries “It costs above Rwf500,000 to change your motor to electric one, this cost can buy another engine motor,” a rider said.