SA fleet management firm expands to Malaysia

From the newsletter

South African mobility management company GoMetro has announced its expansion to Malaysia. The company has teamed up with Malaysia-based telematics service provider Active Telematics to help commercial fleets in the South East Asian country and neighbouring countries to transition to electric vehicles. 

• GoMetro’s suite of fleet management tools include EV-CAN for real-time analytics, monitoring and performance insights tailored to EV operations, route planning through the GoMetro Bridge platform to optimise fleet operations, the EV-FIT charging infrastructure planning and implementation tool and the ConnecTyre Tyre Pressure Monitoring System.

• The two firms have already rolled out operations in the country. They have scheduled pilot programmes in major Malaysian urban centres in this quarter ending March.

More details

• GoMetro was established in South Africa in 2012 by civil engineer Justin Coetzee, becoming the country’s first digital fleet management system provider for trains. The company, which is now headquartered in the UK, thereafter expanded its services to commercial vehicles.

• Its entry into Malaysia comes just a month after it announced a partnership with the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Admiral Mobility to help the firm’s commercial fleet operations transition to electric fleets. The joint venture will provide commercial enterprises with services such as advanced telematics and route planning, implementation of charging infrastructure, and real-time fleet analytics and monitoring systems.

• GoMetro has received millions of dollars in funding over the last decade including debt, equity and grants which has propelled its expansion. In 2024, it raised $11 million in its Series A funding led by Zenobē Energy and Futuregrowth Asset Management, followed by a $182,000 grant from the UK Freight Innovation Fund. According to Crunchbase, GoMetro has done 5 funding rounds and has 11 investors.

• Africa’s growing EV market is not only attracting new fleet management firms that specialize in EVs but also making those that specialize in ICE vehicles to expand to new energy vehicles. Besides GoMetro, other notable mobility solutions providers in Africa include eWaka (Kenya), AIFleet (Egypt), Tracker Connect (South Africa), FlexClub (South Africa) and loudFret (Morocco).

• Fleet management services are enabling EV owners to access key data, including checking whether their vehicles are as productive as ICEs, their sustainability and whether the benefits of EVs outweigh upfront costs of buying them over the duration of their useful life.

Our take

• No data is currently available about the status of EV fleet management services in Africa. However, the entry of new players into the market in countries such as South Africa, Egypt, Kenya and Morocco suggests that demand for these services is growing. The global electric vehicle fleet management market is projected to grow from $23.52 billion in 2024 to $31.25 billion in 2029. This highlights the opportunity that this market can provide to investors. 

• African countries lack sufficient charging infrastructure despite the growth in the number of EVs on the continent. Further, most charging stations are stationed in major cities and towns. Commercial vehicles need fast chargers available along main routes. Fleet management solutions will play a key role going into the future by helping commercial vehicle users identify routes with available fast chargers and how to optimize them. 

• Electric vehicles fleet management is fairly new in Africa. This means that no company has exclusive expertise in the market. It means that partnerships like the ones GoMetro is entering into will be essential for companies seeking to grow both within their local markets and in new markets. Partnerships help two or more mobility service providers to put their strengths together to grow their market share.