The electric vehicle (EV) market is growing rapidly on the continent. Driven by international and local players and the urgency to meet local demand as well.
By Lylia Ayari
BasiGo, a Kenyan start-up specializing in the manufacture of electric buses, recently announced that it has raised US$6.6 million from international investors. These new funds will allow the startup to accelerate the production and delivery of its electric vehicles. To capture East Africa by 2023. With this “new funding, BasiGo is ready to bring the benefits of state-of-the-art electric transport to all people in Africa,” said Jit Bhattacharya, CEO of the startup.
The company said in a statement it aims to have over 1,000 electric buses deployed in Kenya by the end of 2025. It will start with a six-month pilot program in Nairobi with the delivery of 15 buses out of 100 planned. These vehicles will be manufactured locally, but with parts sourced from BYD Automotive, a Chinese manufacturer. The funds will also be used to expand BasiGo’s high-powered fast charging network in Kenya. In addition, it will enable the group to begin assembling electric buses in other East African countries.
Kenya leads
For the time being, the East African region is the target. Kenya has become Africa’s leader in electric mobility, with more than 90 percent of its electricity now coming from renewables. Kenya wants electric vehicles (EVs) to account for 5% of all car imports by 2025, and is cutting its EV import duties in half. But it is no longer alone in its commitment to clean transport.
Ghana, Rwanda, Seychelles and Mauritius have all reduced or eliminated import duties as well. Egypt intends to manufacture 20,000 EVs per year in-house starting in 2023. Namibia aims to have 10,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2030, while South Africa aims to have 2.9 million by 2050. According to the United Nations Environment Program, there are at least 50 startups in Kenya working on two- and three-wheel electric vehicles.
“Green tech startups are leading Africa’s charge towards electric mobility”
“It is estimated that vehicle emissions account for slightly less than 12% of total emissions in Sub-Saharan Africa. As demand for road transportation in the region grows, making the switch to electric vehicles is essential. As emissions from African transportation continue to rise, governments must find ways to encourage a shift to cleaner and healthier electric vehicles, particularly among the minibus and motorcycle taxis that dominate transportation in many cities, particularly in the developing world. If more solar-powered electricity is generated to charge EVs, this could encourage their use, reduce pollution and costs for passengers, and help stabilize unstable energy systems.”
It stated that “green technology startups are leading Africa’s transition to electric mobility, which is a critical intervention in the fight against climate change, driven by a global trend toward the use of EVs. However, the continent’s transition to electric mobility is lagging behind that of Europe, the United States, and China, which are the global leaders in electric mobility. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 0.02% of total domestic vehicle sales in 2020, down from 154 in 2019, according to the SA Automobile Manufacturers Association. Nonetheless, a number of countries are developing comprehensive policy frameworks to help accelerate the transition to and adoption of electric vehicles.”
“Only Cape Verde has taken steps to phase out sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by setting deadline of 2035 for end of imports”
The pace of change is, however, expected to accelerate. Through appropriate government policies, the Energy Transition Center recommends. For the moment, there is one African country, the Republic of Cape Verde, that has taken steps to phase out the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by setting a deadline of 2035 for the end of imports of such vehicles. In comparison, approximately 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and America have enacted legislation along similar lines.
