Designing PAYGO Business Models for Affordable Electric Mobility: A Techno-Economic Case Study of E-Bicycles in Windhoek, Namibia
Keywords:
PAYGO e-mobility, Battery Management System, e-bike, IoT, Sustainable TransportAbstract
Low-income households in cities like Windhoek spend over 20% of their income on public transport. Electric bicycles (e-bikes) offer a cleaner, more affordable alternative, but adoption remains low due to high upfront costs, driven largely by the lithium-ion battery, which can account for around 40% of the total bike cost. This study proposes and evaluates a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) business model that separates e-bike and battery ownership, using a portable, IoT-enabled smart battery management system to embed financing, monitoring, and lease enforcement directly into the battery, analogous to PAYGO solar home systems. The Business Model Innovation (4I) framework and Business Model Triangle structure the proposal, and a MATLAB-based techno-economic model compares its 10-year total cost of ownership (TCO) against conventional transport. PAYGO Battery-as-a-Service (PAYGO BAAS) reduces per-trip operating costs by 43% relative to taxis, but this excludes battery-access payments; however, BAAS carries the second-highest 10-year TCO of all options evaluated. The electric bike lease-to-own model offers the better balance of low upfront cost and long-run affordability, with PAYGO's smart enforcement serving as a risk-reduction mechanism for transitional leasing rather than a substitute for eventual ownership.
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