Battery-as-a-Service in Nigeria
West Africa
180 battery-swap hubs across 16 states, serving 135,000 people
Our customers live and work in grid-connected areas where electricity is unreliable or mostly unavailable. Through our partnership with Mobile Power (MOPO), local hubs provide solar-charged batteries that customers collect, use and exchange when depleted.
How the service fits into everyday life
- Pay per use: Customers pay for each rental, without buying the battery upfront
- Power for homes and businesses: Batteries support lighting and phone charging, with larger batteries powering AC appliances
- Local employment: Agents run the hubs within the communities they serve
- Flexible deployment: Hubs sit close to where people live and trade, and can be relocated as demand changes
How a swap works
Collect
A customer picks up a charged battery from a hub near where they live or trade
Use
Lights, phones, fans, tools — or, with MOPOMax, AC appliances that would otherwise need a generator
Swap
When it runs down they return it and take another. They pay for the charge, not the hardware
Move
Hubs are portable. When local grid supply improves, a hub can be lifted and redeployed to where demand is higher — something no wired grid can do
Where our hubs operate
80 operational hubs across 16 states, with deployment underway in three more
| Dark green Operating states — figures show operational hubs per state |
| Pale green Deploying now — Kaduna, Kogi and Nasarawa |
How this project is run
TThis is the first transaction in Africa to use an infrastructure financing approach to invest in battery-swapping technology.
- Mobile Power builds the hubs, supplies the batteries and runs the network through local agents
- CrossBoundary Access funds the hubs and batteries and owns the assets
- Hubs are deployed batch by batch against agreed qualifying criteria
Two standard agreements govern the partnership: one for development and one for operations. Our Operating Services Agreement template is available on Open Source.
What's next
A clear roadmap lays ahead of us.