Opibus rebrands as ROAM, representing its expansion of EV technologies throughout Africa

Kenyan technology company Opibus announced it has officially changed its name to ROAM. According to Opibus, the rebrand to ROAM is a better fit for the EV manufacturer’s growth and strategic shift to electrify Africa’s transportation sector and beyond.

Under its original monicker founded in 2017, Opibus has been a Swedish-Kenyan technology company headquartered in Kenya that develops, designs, and manufactures electric vehicles to help transition the African continent toward a future of more sustainable transportation.

You may have read our our EV spotlight last year, detailing how Opibus began as a research project at one of Sweden’s top technical universities with a mission to implement electric mobility in emerging markets.

This included EV conversions of mining SUVs, energy storage, and ground-up builds of both electric motorcycles and passenger buses – some of the first to be manufactured in Africa.

Following a round of funding totaling $7.5 million – the largest ever for an African electric mobility company, Opibus partnered with Uber to deploy over 3,000 electric motorcycles on the continent in 2022. This year, the company debuted its first all-electric transit bus for the public.

With financial backing, exciting partnerships, and growing fleets of electric vehicles, the company is gaining a lot of positive momentum. As a result, Opibus announced a rebrand to better match its next set of electrification goals in Africa.

When in ROAM: Opibus announces official company rebrand

Opibus… I mean ROAM, announced the rebrand in a press release today, explaining the company’s latest ambitions and the decision to make the change. ROAM CEO Filip Lövström explained:

This is more than a name change, it’s a milestone that brings us closer to realizing our ambition as leaders in providing electric mobility solutions and energy systems for the African region. It is exciting to see how far we have come and forging forward, it is even more thrilling seeing there are endless possibilities to what we can achieve in Africa.

Similar to Opibus days before the rebrand, ROAM will develop and manufacture electrified vehicles and infrastructure for multiple segments in Africa. Here’s how the business breaks down:

• ROAM Motorcycles – Ground up electrified motorcycles
• ROAM Energy – Energy system solutions, renewables
• ROAM Charging – EV charging infrastructure for motorcycles, EVs, buses
• MUSE – ROAM will continue Opibus’ electrified conversions of Mining, Utility, and Safari vehicles

Much like its preceding namesake, ROAM will remain focused on manufacturing and converting electric vehicles, as well as providing energy system solutions to support them. That being said, the rebirth as ROAM also represents a scaling up of these efforts, especially in segments like road transport, which is currently responsible for a staggering percentage of global emissions.

With its new name, ROAM looks to put an even larger effort toward electrifying the transport sector in Africa.