MOPO Hits One Million Battery Rentals A Month

Powering the future for millions across Africa

Overview

MOPO, the Sheffield-based tech company revolutionising access to sustainable energy in Africa, is proud to announce it has reached a significant milestone: 1 million battery rentals per month. This achievement highlights both the soaring demand for affordable, clean energy provision across the continent and the effectiveness and scalability of MOPO’s pay-per-use model.

Founded on the vision of transforming energy access for underserved communities, MOPO provides smart batteries rented to individuals and small businesses from solar powered hubs. Each battery rental offers a lifeline to end users where grid electricity is unreliable or non-existent.  The pay per use model allows for customers to rent batteries without taking on consumer debt for their own solar panels or fossil fuel powered generators.  A truly applicable solution for the 650 million people across Africa lacking access to reliable electricity.

CEO Chris Longbottom commented: “MOPO’s model is proven and scaling rapidly. This 1 million battery rental per month milestone underlines the huge appetite for affordable, sustainable energy across Africa in both urban and rural areas. With each rental, we’re replacing fossil fuels, reducing household energy costs, and building a future powered by clean tech.”

Already operating across six active markets – Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sierra Leone, Liberia, Chad, and Uganda – MOPO is building momentum. Its high tech platform, that monitors MOPO’s battery rentals in all jurisdictions, this month recorded 33,662 rentals in a single day for the first time.  Both the MOPO50, which provide energy for lighting, phone charging, and powering small appliances, and the larger MOPOMax generator replacement battery, are contributing to this growth. 

“The growth potential for MOPO is enormous,” said Chris. “Take the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, where over 80% of its 100 million population lacks reliable access to electricity. Since launching in the country in Q2 2024, demand has been unprecedented; we’re already active in six cities including a rapidly expanding network in Kinshasa, a megacity of 17 million people. This reflects our ability to meet urgent energy needs in both urban and rural communities. We're seeing a similar pattern across the other five African countries in which we operate and believe we are only just beginning to unlock the full scale of the opportunity offered by our proprietary batteries, technology, and operational model.”