Rivian spinout Also was working on an e-moto project in Kenya — until it walked away

Also, the micromobility startup spun retired of Rivian successful 2025, softly started and past walked distant from an electrical two-wheeler aviator task successful Kenya earlier this year, arsenic it sought to absorption its resources connected its user e-bike and autonomous conveyance ambitions, TechCrunch has learned.

The task received assistance backing from the Shell Foundation, an autarkic foundation established by the British lipid and state elephantine Shell plc. A conception of the Shell Foundation’s website that has since been removed said the project’s extremity was to “enable and de-risk planetary OEM introduction into Africa’s EV marketplace by piloting a locally integrated electrical two-wheeler level successful Kenya, with imaginable to standard crossed East Africa.”

According to the deleted section, Also was expected to enactment connected modular artillery designs, distributed EV charging, and planned connected “developing a purpose-built electrical motorcycle for African riders.”

The accidental for electrical motorcycles seems ripe connected the continent, which has a monolithic two-wheeler market. African mobility institution Spiro recently said it has much than 130,000 electrical motorcycles operating crossed 7 countries, on with 2,500 battery-swapping stations. This roar has drawn involvement from Chinese mobility companies and investors, which are pouring resources into the space.

In a September email, Also told TechCrunch that it had “explored this project” with an unnamed partner, but yet “decided to absorption connected its halfway roadmap” aft completing lone “some early-stage work.” Also said the assistance backing it received from the Shell Foundation “will travel the task to enactment its ongoing development,” but declined to connection specifics.

The Shell Foundation told TechCrunch successful an email that the task was “intended to make grounds connected operator income uplift potential, operational show and commercialized viability to deepen the company’s knowing of the marketplace opportunity.” But erstwhile TechCrunch asked for much specifics, the Shell Foundation declined, citing a nondisclosure statement with Also. Days later, the task disappeared from the Shell Foundation’s website.

During an interrogation past period astatine TechCrunch Disrupt, Also co-founder and president Chris Yu said the Kenya aviator task initially made consciousness fixed Also’s ngo to physique small, purpose-built vehicles that are “first and foremost cost-optimized to bash the occupation that needs to beryllium done successful a peculiar market.”

But different projects took precedence, Yu said, particularly the improvement of tiny autonomous vehicles — which Also is moving connected arsenic portion of a concern with DoorDash.

“We piloted and yet decided, mostly due to the fact that of conscionable urgency and gait astir autonomy, frankly, that our attraction would beryllium best, successful the adjacent term, served afloat focused” connected that, helium said, adding that helium thinks there’s a “high accidental that autonomy volition amusement up first, and astatine a broader standard successful these types of purpose-built smaller vehicles than astatine standard successful rider vehicles.”

Also walked distant from the Africa task during a somewhat rocky archetypal twelvemonth of independence.

Supply concatenation problems forced the institution to repeatedly hold deliveries of its archetypal product, a premium e-bike called the TM-B, frustrating customers who had reserved one. What made matters worse was Also’s comparative silence. The institution said small for overmuch of 2026 astir erstwhile the bikes would get — a connection nonaccomplishment its enactment present acknowledges was a mistake.

“I deliberation we did a beauteous mediocre occupation communicating to our preservation holders done the summertime erstwhile they were each waiting, and we got called retired for that,” Yu said successful the interview. “But I deliberation it’s really great. It’s truly hard to gain the accidental for radical to care, and to archer america what they think, and to assistance america improve.”

Getting its archetypal merchandise motorboat backmost connected way is important for Also, which has ambitions acold beyond e-bikes. The institution plans to merchantability commercialized cargo bikes to companies similar Amazon, including four-wheeled models, and has the concern with DoorDash. These products are adjacent successful the company’s pipeline, Yu said, and correspond bigger gross opportunities.

But the TM-B comes first. It’s Also’s astir disposable merchandise to consumers, and its striking plan has drawn plentifulness of curiosity.

Yu said nary azygous occupation was liable for delaying the bikes, which yet started shipping to customers successful aboriginal October. Instead, Also spent overmuch of the twelvemonth playing proviso concatenation Whac-A-Mole, a peculiarly hard situation fixed the TM-B’s complexity. Yu described the motorcycle arsenic a “kind of a machine connected wheels.”

At 1 point, Also recovered itself competing for the aforesaid earthy materials utilized to marque printed circuit boards for AI information centers. At different times, the institution struggled to navigate certification requirements with antithetic authorities agencies.

Yu said the scope of these problems, and the gait astatine which caller ones popped up — astir play — made it hard to springiness customers reliable updates astir wherefore their bikes were delayed.

“The full squad is similar moving astatine a cardinal miles an hr to get these things produced and shipped to customers, and past it’s besides truly dynamic arsenic well,” helium said. “I deliberation what we could person done amended is conscionable [say], consecutive up: ‘We’re chasing down these things, we’ll person an update shortly.’”

That didn’t hap astatine first, but Also has steadily improved its communication, earning immoderate goodwill from customers connected Reddit. The institution volition request it arsenic it works done the inevitable kinks that travel with a archetypal product. Early customers person already reported problems, including transportation harm and noticeable artillery drain.