This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EVs Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service.
This week, there’s more proof that Africa’s electric mobility shift will not be conventional. To ease the electric vehicle (EV) rollout, automakers are investing in infrastructure to ensure that gaps on the ground won’t hinder future sales and that EVs will still move regardless of whether car sales or charging networks come first.
In addition, African countries are still pushing for more local value addition to the EV value chain by ensuring that raw materials benefit their economies first. This approach may see more competition in a sector over which China holds a near-monopoly, and the stakes will likely keep rising.
While Chinese EV tech has gained ground almost unchallenged, dynamics are now changing. With second-hand vehicles still ruling the car market, the approach that shifts this segment to EVs will win the African mobility market.
This week on EVs in Africa:
Ethiopia’s New Factory to Build Electric Vehicles With Locally Sourced Minerals
Ethiopia will leverage its untapped lithium and cobalt reserves to build a vertically integrated supply chain that will include every phase from raw material extraction, refining, battery assembly, and vehicle production.
The project aims to localize as much of the EV value chain as possible, ensuring that Ethiopia benefits from the key components used to build lithium-ion batteries.
Why This Matters: Chinese entities have controlled most of the extractive sector in African countries, with the raw materials being shipped to China for processing. Ethiopia’s new partnership with European players will affect processing, tariffs, and how China reacts to this seeming encroachment on its perceived domain.
Spiro’s New $100M Investment to Deploy 100K+ Electric Bikes Across Africa
Spiro, an electric motorcycle company operating in six countries, including Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda, has announced a $100 million investment round which will enable the company to deploy more than 100,000 electric bikes across Africa by the end of this year. Already, the company has over 60,000 bikes deployed and 1,500 battery swap stations.
Why This Matters: Funding for start-ups across Africa has decreased year-on-year, but this announcement defies this downward trend. The secret could be that motorcycles are electrifying at a faster rate than any other mobility sector, thus attracting funding that others cannot.
BYD Unconventional Approach to E-Mobilizing African Countries
China’s EV giant BYD’s latest development in South Africa shows that the electric mobility shift in Africa will not be conventional.
The automaker has an ambitious plan to build 300 charging stations across South Africa before the end of next year. This is part of the company’s larger expansion drive in Africa’s largest auto market. BYD will also not rely on South Africa’s national grid but will build solar-powered charging stations with battery storage systems to enhance reliability.
Why This Matters: BYD started as a battery manufacturer, and its approach in South Africa only shows that the company is willing to go the extra mile to ensure that the brand stays ahead of the competition. It also raises questions about whether the charging stations will be universal, allowing other vehicles to charge there, or exclusive to the brand.
Local assembly & Chinese EVs powering Kenya’s electric vehicle shift
Kenya’s evolution in electric mobility from the early days of importing fully built electric vehicles (FBUs) to the more advanced stage of local assembly of buses, motorbikes, and cars shows the fluidity of the EV ecosystem. Scale remains a fundamental constraint. Without large-volume markets, local manufacturing of drivetrains, inverters, and batteries doesn’t yet make economic sense.
Why this matters: This evolution signals a turning point in Kenya’s—and by extension Africa’s—electric vehicle industry. Rather than being passive recipients of imported vehicles and technology, Kenyan firms are beginning to take control of parts of the value chain. This shift could lead to job creation, local innovation, and greater energy resilience.
Tesla’s New Budget Cars to Challenge Chinese EVs in North America
With some second-hand vehicles from North America finding their way into African countries, Tesla’s budget EVs may be a feature in the mobility space in the near future. The American automaker launched two affordable models to rival Chinese EVs in the market.
Why This Matters: With the African market still leaning towards second-hand vehicles, it may not be any different soon when EVs become commonplace. Tesla’s latest releases are pretty basic by many standards. These may end up in some African cities that are electrifying, and where affordability remains a key factor.
In context
This week’s developments mark a turning point in Africa’s electric vehicle transition, defined by innovative efforts to overcome infrastructure and market hurdles. Across the continent, governments are rethinking their role in the global EV value chain, seeking to harness their mineral resources to build integrated local industries. Coupled with the expected arrival of affordable, secondhand electric cars — including Tesla’s upcoming budget models — these shifts point to a more competitive and increasingly sophisticated e-mobility landscape in African countries.
The takeaway: Across Africa, efforts to move up the electric vehicle value chain are beginning to take shape, though often in isolation. As innovation accelerates within the continent’s EV sector, a growing recognition has emerged: African nations cannot remain suppliers of raw materials indefinitely. The push for local processing and manufacturing signals a shift away from the old extractive model, suggesting that only those who partner with African countries in value-added industries will share in the long-term gains.
