Lagos, Wednesday, July 1, 2026 – Hybrid Motors Nigeria and DriveMe Mobility have announced a ₦25 billion strategic partnership to deploy 1,000 brand-new electric cars into Nigeria’s commercial ride-hailing market, representing a significant fleet electrification initiative targeted at working drivers in West Africa.
The partnership pairs Hybrid Motors Nigeria’s vehicle manufacturing, charging, and energy infrastructure with DriveMe Mobility’s proprietary mobility technology and driver development infrastructure to deliver sustainable livelihoods for Nigerian commercial drivers while advancing the country’s transition to clean transport.
Nigeria’s commercial drivers have been locked into ageing, fuel-heavy vehicles they will never own, squeezed by rising costs with little prospect of financial security. This partnership changes the narrative through a drive-to-own model that puts brand-new electric vehicles in the hands of professional drivers, underpinned by structured capacity building, intelligent credit assessment, and a transparent earning model built around their success.
The partnership also focuses on removing major infrastructure challenges that impede wider penetration of electric vehicles into the local mobility space. Notably, unreliable grid power and the near-total absence of dedicated charging networks have made commercial EV adoption impractical at scale.
The partnership addresses that challenge directly. To power the fleet, Hybrid Motors Nigeria is deploying 8 mega charging stations — comprising 96 charging units and 192 charging guns, with the capacity to charge up to 2,300 vehicles daily. Powered substantially by solar energy, these stations generate clean, renewable power independent of the national grid, removing the reliability and cost barriers that have historically constrained EV adoption.
With capacity to serve more than twice the size of the initial fleet, the network is built with deliberate headroom — laying the energy foundation not just for this deployment, but for the thousands of vehicles to follow. The infrastructure forms part of Hybrid Motors’ broader commitment to deploy 110 mega charging stations across Nigeria over the next five years.
Speaking about the initiative, Damilola Odunlade-Akeju, Founder and CEO of DriveMe Mobility Limited, said, “This partnership is about more than putting vehicles on the road. Every driver we deploy is prepared not just to operate a vehicle, but to build a livelihood from it. We are creating sustainable economic opportunity at scale, and Hybrid Motors is delivering the vehicle and energy infrastructure to make it real.”
Precisely, under the partnership arrangement, Hybrid Motors Nigeria supplies, maintains, and powers the fleet, while DriveMe manages the full driver lifecycle that includes acquisition, credit scoring, certification, and daily operations through DriveMe’s proprietary collections and performance technology.
Hybrid Motors’ expertise in vehicle manufacturing, charging, and battery technology, and localised aftersales capability give every driver confidence in the quality, safety, and reliability of their vehicle — backed by accessible spare parts, professional servicing, and end-to-end maintenance support. For commercial drivers whose income depends on every hour their vehicle is on the road, that reliability is everything.
“We are not just putting cars on the road — we are building the vehicles, the energy, and the infrastructure that make clean commercial mobility work in Nigeria,” said Jubril Arogundade, Chief Executive Officer of Hybrid Motors Nigeria.
He added, “From manufacturing to charging to aftersales, every vehicle we deploy is backed by world-class technology and operational discipline. This is how you build something that lasts.”
At the core of the driver experience is DriveMe’s scalable mobility technology — infrastructure built to make commercial driver financing work at scale across Africa. DriveMe brings two proprietary systems to the fleet. DriveMeScore, a mobility-specific credit and risk scoring engine, assesses and qualifies drivers for vehicle financing, solving one of the hardest challenges in African mobility: identifying who is finance-ready in a market where conventional credit data does not exist. DriveMeCollect, the company’s daily collections and remittance engine, drives transparent, consistent revenue flows and real-time fleet performance monitoring.
Every driver completes DriveMe’s intensive, accredited Capacity Building Program, equipping drivers with the skills, professional standards, and financial readiness to thrive in a modern mobility economy.
The 1,000-vehicle deployment is the foundation of a far larger ambition. Both companies have committed to a shared vision of deploying 5,000 vehicles within the next three years, positioning the partnership as a blueprint for how vehicle supply, energy infrastructure, driver development, and intelligent technology can combine to deliver commercially viable, high-impact mobility across Africa.
