Chinese e-mobility technology is poised to transform large swathes of Africa’s transportation ecosystem in the coming decade, but in very different ways than in other regions where EVs are the primary focus. Bicylces, scooters, tricyles, tractors, cars, minibuses, and full-sized coaches, all made in China, are becoming increasingly popular in dozens of African countries.
This week, Eric & Cobus are thrilled to introduce CGSP’s newest podcast The Africa EV Show with Njenga Hakeenah, which highlights the latest trends in this dynamic sector. Njenga, who is also CGSP’s Nairobi-based climate editor, reveals which countries are moving fastest to incorporate e-mobility in their transportation mix and what the major obstacles to e-mobility adoption on the continent are.
Subscribe to The Africa EV Show:
Show Notes:
- The China-Global South Project: Leasing, Swapping, Surviving: Kenya’s Startups Hack the EV Tax Trap by Njenga Hakeenah
- The China-Global South Project: Small Chinese EV on Lease Promises Big Savings For Kenya’s Taxi Drivers by Njenga Hakeenah
- The China-Global South Project: Ethiopia’s Middle Class Ditching Gasoline Vehicles for Electrics With Chinese EVs Dominating Race by Sarah Assefa
Transcript:
ERIC OLANDER: Hello, and welcome to another edition of the China in Africa podcast, a proud member of the Sinica Podcast Network. I’m Eric Olander, and as always, I’m joined by CGSP’s Managing Editor in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa, Cobus van Staden.
A Very good afternoon to you today.
COBUS VAN STADEN: Good afternoon.
ERIC OLANDER: Cobus, before we get into our topic today, and we’re going to focus on Chinese EV mobility in Africa, an absolutely amazing topic, and we’re going to dive into it deep today with our Climate Editor Njenga Akina. But I just got to ask you, Cobus, I mean, what we saw in the Oval Office yesterday was just remarkable.
Another one of these just, again, things that you would never thought you would see, but it was a dramatic showdown. So for those of you who were not paying attention to what happened this week, Cobus’s President Cyril Ramaphosa went to the White House in a bid to try and repair relations with Donald Trump and the United States government. And just as it was with Zelensky from Ukraine, he was ambushed pretty aggressively with videos and pictures and using a lot of debunked conspiracies about the plight of white farmers in South Africa.
Cobus, what was the reaction, your reaction, and then more broadly in South Africa to what happened?
COBUS VAN STADEN: You know, kind of on the one hand, I think both me and the South African reactions that I’ve read were roughly breaking down in two sides. One is that it looked bad, like it looked rough, and that it was clearly an ambush, it was clearly pre-planned, it was clearly aimed at humiliating Ramaphosa. That said, I think, and I think a lot of observers in South Africa have also said that in general, I think Ramaphosa did a very good job.
I think he remained calm, he kept restating the actual record, he didn’t blow up, which of course Zelensky famously did, and that just made stuff worse. And he used his team very well. So an intervention by the DA politician John Stenhuysen, for example, correcting Trump on some of these issues around rural violence, for example, worked very well.
And also the entourage that he brought, which included two very high-level golfers, and also South African billionaires who are also Afrikaners, ended up kind of, I think, even as they were being hit by this barrage of misinformation, their very presence was a kind of a counter to that. So I think it kind of went as good as it could go, but the entire situation was really bad. And clearly it was set up to humiliate South Africa.
ERIC OLANDER: Well, reports came in after the event that said that at the working lunch that the two presidents had, apparently things calmed down, and there was more substantive talk that started to happen. And that, of course, is what also happened with Zelensky as well. There was this performative blow-up, and then later, a few weeks later, remember that famous picture of Zelensky and Trump in the Vatican talking, and apparently they did make some progress on their relationship there.
It just made me think, though, about two things. One, it’s ironic that this came a week after Trump was in Saudi Arabia, saying how we’re no longer going to lecture you about what happens in your country. But again, Donald Trump sees himself as the protector of the aggrieved white person around the world, and that is very much part of his base in the United States, and certainly the campaign he’s taking up in South Africa as well.
But also I’m just wondering that we got word a couple of weeks ago that there’s going to be a U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. Do you think this kind of thing will have any impact on other African leaders and whether or not they want to come to Washington? And will there be any solidarity with Ramaphosa from other African leaders who maybe saw this and said, this isn’t right?
Or do you think they’re looking much more narrowly to their own interests?
COBUS VAN STADEN
So far, I haven’t seen much said by other African leaders. And similarly, I know other African leaders, for example, commented on the fight between Kenya and the U.S. recently. So I think in general, it just shows very low levels of solidarity among African countries.
I think African leaders would probably still want to come, probably betting on what I think is probably true, that South Africa is the only country in which Donald Trump has any kind of opinion or even knowledge about what’s going on in their internal affairs. So I don’t think it’ll affect them coming to the summit. I think it may affect the choice of being caught in an Oval Office press conference with Donald Trump, because that’s clearly bad news.
ERIC OLANDER
Yeah, if I was a communication advisor to any president or prime minister that has even the slightest contentious relationship with the United States, I would say we are not going into the Oval Office with the press available. I think that’s one of the key takeaways. Okay, let’s kind of shift gears here.
And that is an intentional pun here. We’re going to talk about Chinese mobility technology in Africa. Now, this sounds a little bit like a technical thing.
And why am I saying mobility technology instead of EVs? And we hear a lot about Chinese EVs all over the world, BYD, Zeker, Geely, all of these brands. Some are familiar to people, some are not.
Here in Southeast Asia, they’re becoming increasingly ubiquitous. But one of the trends that we’re seeing in Africa is that, and Cobus, you mentioned this many years ago, actually, when it was just starting off, that the Chinese are engaging the entire mobility, I don’t think supply chain is the right word, but the entire mobility sector from two wheels to three wheels to four wheels to 18 wheelers, all the way, anything that moves now in Africa, for the most part, oftentimes has a Chinese battery attached to it, Chinese technology put to it. And one of the things that we noticed at CGSP is that when we started putting content out there about EVs, particularly on our YouTube channel, it just took off. I mean, our shows normally get, oh, sometimes 5,000, 10,000 streams on YouTube.
And we had shows that when we talked about this topic, it went to 100,000, 150,000, and it just shows there’s so much pent up interest. And Cobus, I think it’s so interesting because going back to what you were talking about a couple of years ago, where in contrast to the United States and Europe that provide EV technology at the highest price point, so a Tesla, for example, is $50,000, $60,000, $70,000, depending on where you are, cheapest ones, the Chinese are coming in sometimes at below $10,000. And you can get Chinese e-bikes and scooters for sometimes a few hundred dollars.
And I think that’s what’s really interesting. In South Africa in particular, Cobus, you are seeing a lot of Chinese e-mobility around town, even when I was there the last time, delivery vehicles in scooters and whatnot. And that is now spreading elsewhere around the continent.
It’s just an interesting trend. And it’s one of those places where e-mobility technology is taking off much faster than other parts of the world.
COBUS VAN STADEN: Yeah. And it’s really interesting. And the fact that it’s, as you said, it’s taking off from the bottom up, I think it’s very revealing.
For example, food delivery in a city like Cape Town is now largely done with electric scooters and e-bikes. I assume most of those would be coming from China. And similarly, for example, bus services in Cape Town have also started switching over to electric buses, again, coming from China.
So it’s very interesting that Africa is following the Chinese model in the sense of using EVs to address existing working-class mobility issues, rather than selling it as something for an elite, essentially virtue signal, their concern about the planet. I mean, they do that too, but it’s across the entire range, which is very interesting.
ERIC OLANDER: But unlike in China, there are some structural issues in every African country that the Chinese don’t have to contend with. Most importantly, power and charging stations and also tariffs and all sorts of obstacles that a lot of entrepreneurs are overcoming and yet still innovating. And that’s the focus of a brand new podcast that we launched taking advantage of the momentum that we had on YouTube called the Africa EV Show.
It comes out every week and it’s hosted by our colleague in Nairobi, Njenga Hakeenah, who is CGSP’s climate editor, and in many ways just kind of stumbled into this story when he started covering a lot more EV activity in Nairobi in particular, and then we took it across the continent. Njenga, welcome back to the program. Great to have you on the show.
And congratulations on the new podcast.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Thank you so much. The Africa EV Show is focusing on the things that you’ve just spoken about, Cobus, and so much more. And I think what I found out was that there’s so much more in terms of just beyond the tech, because what you find is that Africans, Kenyans, Nigerians, Rwandese, everyone that is using this tech is innovating for a problem that they have.
So they are innovating a solution to meet these challenges that they have experienced. And so if I may give a little bit of detail of why the Africa EV Show, we are focused on electric vehicles, sustainable mobility and clean energy development across African countries. We cover topics on EV adoption in these African countries where we discuss the challenges and the opportunities because there are many for EVs in the African markets.
We also look at government policies, we look at incentives and infrastructure, which includes charging networks, and also the industry innovations where we spotlight African EV startups creating solutions to these local mobility challenges. And they are using new business models and also embracing battery technology for these mobility solutions. Again, in the coming months, we’ll also be interviewing some of the automakers like BYD and Geely and everyone else that is in this market about the potential that they see in these African countries.
And because renewable energy is the key really for driving EV adoption. Ideally, we also look at how solar, wind power can support EV charging, and also the transition. And also we look at the successful case studies where we focus on success stories from these different African countries.
In Kenya, we know we are innovating wheelchairs, we are innovating mobility for differently abled people or people with mobility challenges. And all this is happening across the continent, but it is local solutions to local problems. But then again, the approach is international because we have to embrace a Chinese tech.
And in most of these conversations, we also offer consumer guides, which are focused on affordability, on maintenance and ownership experiences across Africa.
COBUS VAN STADEN: Just in terms of looking at the spread of EVs from my perspective, you know, my work for CJSP is frequently quite high level in the sense that, you know, like we do all of this kind of like scanning of different kind of industry publications and so on to put together like high level trends. And one of the trends that keeps coming up is just more and more announcements of new assembly plants in Egypt, particularly. There’s been two different announcements this week.
And so I was wondering what you make of these announcements and of the centering of Egypt in, you know, kind of in this activity, like in the non-African press, it’s usually fully kind of like framed as only serving export markets in Europe. So I was wondering, like, whether you also see a larger kind of continental presence for those kind of facilities for the continental Africa?
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Yeah, I think Egypt because of where they are in terms of industrialization, they have kind of a number of these assembly going to them. And then some is coming or happening in Morocco. And then you would be interested to know that South Africa as well from as far back as 2016, they have been talking about with BYD talking about establishing an assembly line, a manufacturing line, whatever it is that you would have in that space, but it has not materialized yet.
Johannesburg seems to be the perfect place for this. And the conversations are continuing between the government and these Chinese automakers. However, like you’re saying, the assembling or the building happens to be happening a lot in Egypt.
But also we are seeing outside of Egypt, Northern Africa, South Africa is playing that role. Then we have some small bits here and there in Kenya, in Rwanda, in Uganda, that is happening. So it is not concentrated in one country.
But then like Eric has mentioned earlier, and I think yourself as well, when it comes to power reliability, Egypt seems to be ahead of many of us other African countries. And so whenever investment is going that way, then it is because of probably the reliability of the energy that they would require to make these industries work. But when it comes to beyond assembling for fully built units, South Africa is leading the pack.
They have hundreds of dealerships that are dealing in Chinese brands, different Chinese brands. There is BYD, there is Haval, there is GWM, and everyone else that is coming from China, you will find that they have some space in South Africa in a dealership. And so I was surprised that when I was collecting some data on this, Yves, that if we were to put Africa on a scale, South Africa would tip us off.
ERIC OLANDER: I mean, it’s half of all African new car sales are in South Africa alone.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Imagine that. And then looking at the map, the dotted spaces where these are dealerships, whatever GM, GWM, Haval, whoever it is, everything is seemingly happening in South Africa. So beyond assembly, which has already speaking very well in Egypt, South Africa is also at a prime spot in terms of even legacy brands that have been assembling there.
And so they kind of have a foundation. But then we are seeing a shift in countries like Ethiopia. Ethiopia, interestingly, last week, there was that story about, you know, some garment factory now shifting to be assembling Chinese EVs.
And so with a policy that came in Ethiopia a few years ago, like two years ago, whereby they slashed all the tariffs. And now we are seeing a shift in all this. So I think even when it comes to assembling to manufacturing in countries like Ethiopia, it may be unexpected in terms of like where it has been in terms of manufacturing.
But that is where we are heading. We need to keep our minds open because the Chinese will go where we least expect them to be.
ERIC OLANDER: Well, let’s stay in Ethiopia. And we’re going to give everybody a little bit of a sample of the kind of show that you are producing. And I’d like to kind of have you set up this clip in this particular program with an Ethiopian journalist.
And we did a story on Chinese EVs in the Ethiopian market. Ethiopia, again, is special in part because it’s been very progressive on the import duties. And it’s brought down the import duties.
When as we look in places like Kenya, the import tariffs on these cars are upwards of 25 percent, even higher in many cases, forcing the cost of the car to be just almost prohibitive. But yet in Ethiopia, they’ve gone the different direction. Tell us a little bit about this program that you recorded with a journalist in Ethiopia and that we’re going to listen to very shortly.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: So I met Sarah Assefa from some of the works that she’s done in the renewable energy space in Ethiopia. And when we spoke about the shift, that was like last year, even before we commissioned a story. I was like, I would be very interested to know about what is happening in the EV space in Ethiopia.
And she was like, there is some reluctance because people still do not understand what these EVs are, what they can do, how to maintain them, where to get the spare parts. But fast forward to March this year, and I was surprised she was like, people have totally had a complete mind shift about EVs from having limited number of established Chinese automakers or brands in Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa, in the showrooms and caryards to getting, you know, like tens, hundreds of these vehicles in different caryards and the different brands, including the Xiaomi. I was like, what changed?
And she was like, people have started to realize that they can make savings. And apart from the savings, they can also get the spare parts. They can get the resale values of these vehicles are also going up because the biggest fear that they had before, like this kind of shit was, if I buy a car today and I need to dispose of it, I may not get a market for it.
And I may have to sell it at a loss, a huge loss, if I need to dispose.
ERIC OLANDER: That’s a big problem. That’s a big problem.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: And so for a secondhand market vehicle like Ethiopia, having seen the kind of trend whereby it’s in public service, it’s in private cars, and it is all the brands across the manufacturers, the automakers, then I think this has built confidence. And again, the affordability, because before that, the only way you could buy a car in Ethiopia was if you bought a car that was over 10 years old, and then it was at premium. But now when the government slashed the tariffs, everybody was getting these new cars at the same price they would have gotten for the second hand ones.
And so I think when it comes to maintenance and looking at taking care of these secondhand cars, it becomes cheaper and it became cheaper. And so everyone or most of the Ethiopians are now shifting to these new electric vehicles, apart from the fear that they had about these cars, are they durable? Can we rely on them?
Then we can see that when governments play a role, that even the people themselves, they get to change and see that we can adopt this, we can take this on, and we can have our lives moving on better and more affordably.
ERIC OLANDER: Well, let’s take a listen now to the Africa EV show featuring an interview between Njenga and Ethiopian journalist Sarah Assefa.
NJENGA HAKEENAH
I think we’ll just get into this conversation and we are looking at Chinese EV import and market growth in Ethiopia. And you guys have seen a surge in Chinese EV imports over the past few years. There is the policy that I’ve just mentioned.
How is this and the import market impacting the industry or the sector in Ethiopia?
NJENGA HAKEENAH:: So as you mentioned in your introduction, in February 2024, there was a complete ban on the importation of fossil fuel cars, vehicles. So that definitely like drove up the demand and supply of electric vehicles. And naturally, you know, Ethiopia already had like a lot of projects with China, a lot of business people in Ethiopia do travel to China to import cars like into the country anyway.
So, and then also like China is a leading player in the sector, like globally as well. So I think that’s like what caused the fact that like most of these imported cars are coming from China. So all this did not actually start in February 2024.
So the ban happened in February 2024. But in November 2022, the government’s first initiative to encourage people to switch to EVs was to slash the taxes like drastically. So for those who don’t know, like Ethiopia does have one of the lowest car ownerships, even still as of today.
So in 2022, before there was like all the incentives to switch to electric vehicles, according to studies, there was less than like one in 1000 people only owned a car, you know, like there was just 1.3 million cars in the streets. And by November 2022, we were well above 100 million people. So and more than half of these cars were like service cars.
I mean, you know, buses, taxis, it’s like not privately owned cars. So there was two things to tackle. First of all, they was to encourage like the adoption of like newer cars, more environmentally friendly cars, and stuff like even before the whole like EV encouragement, like the government also put higher taxes on cars that are more than two years older than the current time.
So once there was the tax slashing in EV, so basically an electric vehicle would just be have like 15% custom duties like to pay, you know, why, whereas like a fuel car could be anywhere from like 100% of the car price to like 300%, depending on the engine size. Wow. Yeah.
So basically, like a car that like you would, you wouldn’t even like look twice at, you know, in another country, like over here, it’s like sold for millions, you know. And also, because there was a shortage, like, you know, the car was basically considered a very valuable asset, because it holds its price, if anything, it actually increases in price, the older the car gets, the more expensive it keeps on getting, because it holds on to the price and fights the devaluation of the ethiopimper. But yeah, like once these incentives happen, like it changed everything, it completely changed the whole like vehicle scene.
So the population was skeptic in the beginning, EV adoption was not as fast, like even after all of these incentives, because of a couple of reasons. So first of all, people, they’re scared to try something new, like naturally. And like, there was like a lot of concerns about like, where are we going to charge it?
What about spare parts? Nobody knew how like, even let’s say if the cars have like an eight year guarantee, a 10 year guarantee, like there has been none of these cars haven’t even existed for eight years. So like, there was also like skepticism on like, how good these cars are, they didn’t hold their value, of course, because nobody knew like what the resale value is going to be like, you know, because it was still new.
And there was even like words of like, you know, like people, you know, just like the battery going bad or something like that people didn’t even know like how to gauge things. But still, there was more and more and more adoption happening. And then yeah, the main thing that drove the market growth, except for like the ban on electric vehicle was the increase of fuel prices.
NJENGA HAKEENAH
Nice. Wow. Because we are seeing this is a street on one of the streets is in one of the streets or avenues in Addis Ababa.
And you can tell that like the car behind is a Volkswagen. And most likely an electric it is the ID for Yeah. And then you can see the trucks and then the others are ahead there.
You can tell their petrol but then you are mentioning about the petrol price in crime increasing. Yeah, who had to shift because of the price increases in fuel?
SARAH ASSEFA: Yes, yes. So basically, I think it was Yeah, I was around 2021 like the government did announce the fact that like, they were going to reduce the subsidies in fuel. So first of all, the whole reason that this ban happened was also to save like foreign currency that they spent on fuel, which was like around like 7.5 billion a year and half of that went into gas stations and stuff. So like that was an incentive. So prices just kept on increasing. For reference, in January 2023, fuel was gasoline was $0.4 per litre. And as of January 2025, it has already hit the 0.8 per litre mark, we’re heading to basically like a dollar per per litre was like, it’s crazy.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: It’s a big because that’s 100% increase on fuel price.
SARAH ASSEFA: And it’s going to now it’s like monthly increments. Since I released my article with you, by the way, it has already increased as of last week. So it turned from like 0.6 something to like 0.7 litre.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: And you can imagine how much if Ethiopia was to stop importing this fuel, how much in savings it would make. But I know we are getting to that later in this conversation. But first, let’s focus at local assembly.
And how do Chinese EVs compare to traditional fuel powered vehicles regarding affordability, performance, and maintenance, even before we get to the local assembly? I know you have mentioned a bit of it. But are the price discrepancies now so noticeable between ICE vehicles or internal combustion engine vehicles, and EVs?
SARAH ASSEFA: Okay, so again, the market of vehicles in Ethiopia is a bit more complicated and like funny in a certain extent, like even to understand. So as I said before, like, fuel cars really held their price in the past for some reason, like, I mean, there are many reasons like, you know, people like, for example, I don’t know if you have it in Nairobi, but then have you like the Toyota beats?
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Yes, yes.
SARAH ASSEFA
2004 model, for example, is up to like, one, like it depending on the state and everything, it’s like up to 1.8 million. But which Wow, if you even convert it, my bad, but this one, but it’s very important.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: It’s like $10,000 there about or above that?
SARAH ASSEFA: Yeah, exactly. 13 more than more than 10, like 13k, basically, like you could for a 20 year old car, literally, literally, you know, so because people just liked to yeah, $13,700. Because there was a lot of factors, you know, like the spare parts for these cars is like, just it’s dirt cheap, you know, like your car, it could be completely smashed.
And then like, it’s gonna be, you know, fixed, like in a week, you know, like, so it was that people were used to it in like, it up that much fuel. And again, like fuel was not that expensive in the past. So yeah, like while electric vehicles was the opposite, you know, like, because despite the like the tax incentives, the original price of these cars is on the higher side, just generally speaking, you know, so even before like all taxes, even before they come here before the transportation costs and everything, the price of this car, for example, like price for fossil fuel cars, what made them expensive was the tax, whereas for electric vehicles, it’s the opposite, it’s the actual price of the car that is a bit on the higher side.
So you know, in the beginning, it took some time for like the prices to even like, be like, similar. But currently, the demand of fuel cars is just like falling so fast. So like, even like people who held their car just for it to like, as I said, keep its value and keep getting more expensive.
Now they’re just like, they just don’t want to sell it at a loss, you know, they’re just like, even if I sell it for the price that I bought it, it’s okay. So and then whereas the electric vehicle stock is it. So when they first started coming here, and being introduced to the market and everything, there wasn’t many of them.
And at the same time, also, like the private importers and public importers were selling them at a more affordable price. And now because demand is increasing as well, by the way, even the price of these electric vehicles is like the markup is just like even getting higher. Last year, for example, the BYD Seagull, which is like a very common car for Oh, even even the one that’s like shown right here.
This is this was I forgot the name of this car. Yeah, it’s there’s like, so many of the so many of them, but like, yeah, so like the BYD Seagull, for example, you know, the price of it was 1.7 1.8 mil as of last year. And then right now it’s as clamped up to like 2.6 2.7 depending who you’re buying it from, like in millions, you know, but also that’s also because of the bird devaluation. By the way, there was a devaluation in the past year as well. But yeah, like the cars definitely but at the end of the day, they’re also like still cheaper than a lot of the fuel cars, you know, for example, like even the luxury ID for ID six and stuff, they’re like, you know, cheaper than like the few like Tucson cars or like the Toyota like RAV4 and stuff like that, like they’re much cheaper. And then I feel like it also feels better when you’re like spending your money on the car itself than you are on like taxes, you know, because this is we’re talking about like brand new cars, you know, at the end of the day, they are, I can’t compare like a brand new car with a with a car that has been around for like years as well, you know, like naturally, the brand new car is going to be a bit more pricey, you know, and there’s still not more see than the fuel cars. So that’s definitely more like making them more affordable, you know, also like for future, you know, right now, there are like more insurance companies offering insurance on car batteries, there have been like official importers and assemblers for like EV Chinese EV vehicles here as well.
So like, spare parts, it’s not going to be a problem anymore. And also like the importing of spare parts by companies, the government has completely like eliminated all taxes. There’s zero tax on like importing spare parts as a company, not as a private person, of course, as a private entity.
Also like the tax on importing like semi assembled electric vehicles is just 5% as well. So like the incentives are there is more like affordable. And then also just as a comparison, it costs 20 per which is like, not even like 5 cents.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: It’s not even a dollar.
SARAH ASSEFA: It’s not. It costs 20 to charge. And I, for example, an ID4 even like an let’s just hold like an ID4 from 20% to 80 to 90%.
It costs 20 where fuel prices, as we have said, is $0.8 per litre, you know, so just like make the comparison like people are like fuel prices really, really like, yeah, like, I mean, EV owners like are saving hundreds and thousands of per on which is thousands of dollars, like saving from like charging up, you know, and then like, besides that, also, there’s a few shortages as well. So you know, there’s usually like queues by like fuel stations and stuff. So like, they’re also like saving time as well.
So I would say definitely it’s an affordable, the cars are like more affordable than the internal combustion vehicles. And at the same time, they’re, they’re like these are we’re talking like brand new cars, you know, so yeah.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: And I think the car that you said you could not remember, it’s a Chang’an Benbar.
SARAH ASSEFA: Yes.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: And this is one of the taxi drivers that you featured who had to shift from an ICE vehicle to this EV. And he was telling you that the savings he’s making are enormous, that there was apprehension and kind of fear at first, until he was able to provide comfortably for his family. And then he was like, Oh, man, this is the way to go.
SARAH ASSEFA: 100%. So this is Solomon. Yeah, he was one of those.
Yeah, he was the main subject for my, for my article. And yes, as you said, he bought the car on bank loans as well. So he’s also being bank installments, which is around like $500 a month.
And he has still been like able to comfortably provide for his family. So you could only imagine like how much this car is saving him because also as a ride hailing driver, you also need to remember that time is also like very precious, you know, so like, let’s say if you spend like hours lining up for fuel every week, even like it’s really does like affect their work a lot sometimes, because of lack of fuel, they would stay home and like not work on that day as well and stuff.
So he was telling me like, there was huge hesitation in the beginning. He was also like an electrician. And he also like has a family and he had like a decent I see car and it wasn’t like it was breaking down and everything, but he just decided to make the shift.
He knew it was a good idea. And then like also, as I said, as the demand increased, because the supply cannot like fill it like I mean, you know, like we like catch up as past, the prices of these cars have been increasing, you know, just like naturally, like the dealers and the brokers and like they’ve been like increasing the price like the players in this EV market. So he knew like the prices, like since he bought this car, which was six months ago, and compared to today, like the price of the car has already increased by like, around like 600 to $700.
Wow. Yes, exactly. Like just in the six months, because also because of the devaluation of the bird as well, you know, like, I mean, yeah, the bird against foreign currency.
So yeah, he knew that like, if he keeps on waiting, like eventually this has to become the move, you know, because also he spent all this profit, like he had no profit, because he’s spending all of his money on fuel. So and then, which is only projected to increase, like, you know, the coming like, it’s literally increasing in increments now of like, a month, two months, I think. So he just knew that, like, it’s a race against time.
And like he had to get this electric vehicle. And now all the stakeholders around him as well are just like, yeah, it was a great idea, you know, it is.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: And I think it is.
ERIC OLANDER: And of course, if you’d like to hear more, you can find the show on our website, and also on YouTube as well. And if you want to read Sarah’s article, it’s open, by the way, not behind the paywall, Ethiopia’s middle class ditching gasoline vehicles for electrics, with Chinese EVs dominating the race. Let’s just continue a little bit because part of what you’re talking about, and again, we keep coming back to cars, but I really want to emphasize that cars are potentially a pretty small part of this bigger mobility equation that the Chinese are absolutely transformational in Africa and across Africa.
It’s happening again, with e-bikes, and scooters, and tractors, and tricycles, and boats. You’ve even did a show on electric boats made from Chinese tech. Give us a sense of the broader mobility landscape that this Chinese green technology is being now used by some very enterprising individuals in different African countries who are taking it, and innovating with it, and creating all of these new business models as well.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Let me start by a community that is mostly overlooked when it comes to innovation, and that is people who are mobility limited, people who use wheelchairs. In Kenya, a few weeks ago, I got to know of an organization, actually two organizations, two companies, two startups, that are working to ensure that people who use wheelchairs in Kenya have a better means of moving from point A to point B, or within their houses, using motorized wheelchairs. And what you realize that most of the focus when we talk about EV tech is taken to vehicles, to buses, because we have Bicycle and all, but very rarely do we talk about these people who are in this space, whereby they would need someone with them all the time for them to move.
But when they get the independence because of the kind of solutions that eBikes Africa and Ace Mobility are creating, you see that the solutions that are coming for them are something that have not been thought out in China or in India. You find that these are solutions that are being created locally because there is a real need that needs to be addressed. And so when we talk about EV tech, the Chinese EV tech, because the batteries and some of the plastic components are coming from China, when we talk about this technology in African countries, in Kenya, where I am, we think about, you know, cars, we think about bikes, we think about eBikes and things like that.
But rarely do we think about this community that is largely locked out of mobility. And so coming back to what we are talking about, that we do not have to limit ourselves to just looking at or thinking about EVs as being vehicles, buses and eBikes and all. But it is cutting through the sector, the social strata or statuses of people and making life more comfortable for them.
Because if you get someone who has been used to either pushing a wheelchair using their hands, and then they have one whereby it is motored, and it can move without having to be pushed, they can be able to do business, they can be able to be independent, they don’t have to rely on anyone, then these solutions are what really make a mark for this technology being adopted in Kenya and across other African countries. But again, I will come back to buses because mobility in Kenya, especially is very limited and very unfriendly, especially public transport.
But we are seeing some changes with the e-mobility in buses, in that there is more discipline, there is more in terms of profitability, and also in terms of how the staff are treating commuters. It is changing unlike the usual matatus that you have seen. Some are clubhouses on wheels, some are rowdy, some are very disrespectful.
But what is happening with the EV shift is that we are seeing a change even in how the drivers and the conductors, the guys who help load these buses treat commuters. So I think beyond just the tech, there is also something that is being instilled in people that this can work for us and we can make it work for us. And it cuts across all those sectors.
COBUS VAN STADEN: So one of the very interesting aspects for me about this, and your coverage about Ethiopia particularly, and I think Sarah’s coverage as well, was that the introduction of EVs in Ethiopia was linked to the cancellation of a fuel subsidy by the government. And obviously fuel subsidies, petrol subsidies are environmentally very problematic. Environmental activists have been fighting against state fuel subsidies for a long time, and they still are.
And in South Africa, it’s kind of the opposite situation, because the state in South Africa has a fuel surcharge, and a quite controversial one that has actually just been increased. So I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the use of EVs in these two ways, in a way to kind of get rid of a fuel surcharge without causing a huge political problem, or like a fuel subsidy without causing a huge political problem. But and then also, you know, kind of the larger issue of fuel costs and how EVs are used to avoid them.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: So it’s interesting, because like in Kenya, for instance, let me first come to Kenya before we get to Ethiopia, is that our fuel is all imported. And so 80% of whatever is made within that sector goes out of Kenya, and maybe like less than 15% is retained locally. So most of all that goes out there, money that would do better spending locally to develop and to grow our economy.
But when you look at like even what you’re mentioning in South Africa, the surcharges and you know, making fuel expensive. That is what Ethiopia did when they introduced the EV policy, they moved to make fuel expensive, so that people could shift, it may sound insensitive that a government would have such a policy, because not everyone will be able to switch to electric. But if you look at the kind of savings that they make in terms of like import bills, when it comes to their fuel, then it starts to make sense.
Because for a country like mine, where all this fuel is coming in, if you look at the destabilization of that sector that we had last time, whereby we could not get the fuel, the economy comes to a standstill. But imagine if we were powering our economy on, you know, mobility on electricity, which we do not have to import from any other country, then it makes sense that fuel becomes expensive. But then again, I am not saying that we do not become sensitive to the people who are relying on fuel or ICE vehicles, internal combustion engine vehicles.
Yes, because also they have invested in that until now that we now have to move. And so we have to also be sensitive of that, that even if we are going to have policies like Ethiopia’s, then we have to also think about these people who invested in multi-million value cars, or trucks or whatever for transport, and now we need them to shift. So we have to be considerate.
But in Kenya, we have also seen that even for these old ICE vehicles, people are retrofitting them and making them electric. While there are concerns about, you know, the stability of that car performing the way it was originally made, and others like, you know, in Kenya, you have to go to the regulator and to the National Transport Service Authority and get to change that this car has moved from being ICE to being electric. And also in terms of insurance, it is possible that, like we are saying, our solutions are local, it is a problem that we have, we need to move.
So if fuel becomes expensive, then we need to move that way. Even though some of these are pet projects for some of these people, because they are managed, they can afford to do this. I think that instead of, you know, discarding the ICE vehicles that we had, we can retrofit them and make them useful.
And this will be cutting again, out on waste, because we know that there is waste that comes from discarding our old engines.
ERIC OLANDER: But to your point on the affordability of EVs, because that remains one of the major obstacles is that they’re still very expensive, especially compared to secondhand vehicles, you can get a Toyota with 100,000 kilometers on it for around 10-15,000 dollars, even cheaper maybe. And yet new EV cars are considerably more expensive in part because of these tariffs. And it’s maddening to see why, when you’re talking about all the benefits that could come to a country like Kenya, where they have abundant energy and they could power their mobility and their transportation sector through more energy and wouldn’t have to import as much refined fuel, and that all makes sense.
But again, the economics don’t add up, because buying an 18,000 dollar tiny little Henry car, and I’m going to talk about this Henry car, again, it’s a brand that nobody’s heard of, and I’d like you to tell us about it, doesn’t make sense. But there are ways to actually make it make sense. Tell us about the case of this Chinese brand called Henry in Kenya and what they’re doing.
And also tell everybody about how you and I both got the story wrong at first.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Yeah, it is very interesting that, you know, in Kenya, whenever we see a car, we take it that it’s being sold, and so this is the price. And so when I spoke with Henry brand, kind of the company that is dealing with them, Rydance, my first impression was this car would be sold for like 2 million and something Kenya shillings, about 18,000 dollars, you know, and you were thinking that it was going to be sold to individuals and families.
ERIC OLANDER: And just so can people visualize what this is, it’s a tiny little shoebox of a car. I mean, this is a very, very small car, think a little bit smaller than a Mini, a Cooper Mini, if you will. I mean, one of these kind of small, way smaller.
So it’s a little shoebox of a car. And so 18,000 dollars, and people on YouTube were like, this is crazy. I can get a Toyota, I can get a Nissan, I can for that kind of money.
But you found out that it wasn’t targeted at families and consumers.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: No, it was for ride hailing. And this ride hailing is the company that is owning these cars, they are not selling them yet. So they own these cars and what they do and how the business model that they have is they are listing these vehicles to drivers.
So if I go there today, I am a driver, I do not have a car, I do not have a job, but I can do the taxi business. Then I go to Rydance and tell them, I need your your deal, I need to be, you know, driving, I need to make a livelihood. And so what is the agreement?
What is the arrangement? And so Rydance gives me this car, and I have to pay $25 a day. And then whatever else I make in that day, that is my money.
And then for one day a week, all the money I make is mine, I don’t give them that money. However, for this car to be fully paid back, it is going to take about two years. And looking at the price that we’re talking about, because I spoke with Rydance later on, and they told me that if they were to sell this car, it would be at 2.5 million shillings, about $19,000 and something dollars. Bonkers, bonkers.
ERIC OLANDER: You would never spend $19,000 on this car. But again, a lot of that to remember is not the value of the car, it’s the value of the tariffs. And that’s what’s pushing the price of this car.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Exactly. Because in China, this car is going for between $6,500 and $8,500. So when it gets to Kenya, it’s almost three times that amount.
And so the taxation is kind of crazy when you look at how the last price that you get them for, it’s almost another car, actually more than another car. Because if you add them up, then it becomes more than half even of all that. So I think for Rydance, their approach was like, because maybe it may be difficult to sell these cars, let’s lease them and make this money as you know, we continue contracting these drivers to work for us and give us the $25 daily.
But then again, if we shift from Rydance and look at some other arrangements that companies are having, in terms of like business models, we see there are those who are on pay as you go or pay as you earn, whereby I go get this vehicle, it could be a bike, it could be a vehicle. And then the difference from Rydance for this pay as you go is that at the end of my tenure, or when I have paid off the price of the car, the car or whatever vehicle, be it a bike, it becomes mine. And so for many in our economy, it’s very expensive to go and cough up $1,000 and say, I am buying this.
So what happens is that these arrangements are made, whereby there are daily rates that I pay. And then after maybe a year or two years or whatever number of years, I will have paid off this vehicle and it becomes mine.
ERIC OLANDER: And then… And Cobus, this is what, sorry to interrupt you Njenga. And Cobus, what’s so interesting about what Njenga is discovering in the course of reporting on this show is that it’s not just the technology and it’s not just the mobility, but it’s the business models that are being innovative here.
And one of the things that I’ve noticed is that here in Southeast Asia, again, very comparable level of development in most of Africa. So a country like Vietnam is right at the mid level of development. The innovation in the business models in African countries that we’re seeing with Chinese EV mobility tech, light years ahead of what we’re seeing in Southeast Asia.
I mean, just not even close. On bank loans, on financing, on wheelchairs, on all the different things that Njenga has highlighted in his show. And it got me thinking that this is an opportunity where we should rethink about Africa and its role in the innovation ecosystem.
Because typically, foreigners, white people and Chinese people go to Africa to say, we’re going to tell you how to do things. What we’re seeing here in Njenga’s reporting is that Africa actually has the opportunity to tell everybody else how to do things. And that is what’s very exciting about this.
It turns everything on its head.
COBUS VAN STADEN: Yeah, I think fully, you know, it’s so inspiring, so interesting. And, you know, I think it’s one of the situations where these developments have been going on, and no one, no one noticed, until Njenga noticed. So it’s really, I’m really glad that we’re highlighting this.
ERIC OLANDER: Yeah, I’m blown away that there’s not another EV Africa show. Honestly, this is the first of its kind in Africa. So I mean, I’m glad that we’re pioneering this, but I’m also surprised that there isn’t more interest in the topic, at least on social media and in the podcast space.
You would think there’s a podcast for everything, right? But not yet. Yeah, not in Africa, but like the African podcasting space itself is exploding.
So, you know, there we go. Yeah, it is. It’s definitely getting better.
Okay, Njenga, let’s kind of look forward a little bit. Let’s remind everybody that while there is a lot of excitement about EV technology in Africa, it’s still a very, very tiny percentage of the overall mobility space. I mean, so this is in the infancy of its growth here.
Let’s kind of look ahead about some of the topics that you’re going to cover on the show and, you know, kind of entice people to subscribe to the podcast into what you’re doing on YouTube as well, and tell about what you’ve got planned.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: So looking ahead, we are going to be, like I mentioned a bit earlier, is that we’ll be talking to even the automakers themselves who are coming to establish or to sell their brands here. And again, like the innovations, they have been siloed for the larger part. And so, like Eric, you’re mentioning that it is not out there, the interest seemingly not there, but it’s because most of these countries have been operating in silos.
And this is also something that I’m coming to find out that Kenya and Uganda, or Kenya and Tanzania do not really work a lot together, until you have gotten to a point whereby, oh, they are doing this. And so basically, a lot of the growth is very siloed and very limited to the specific countries. But we’ll be looking at some of the things that are happening across.
In Tanzania, we have a story that is coming up, Eric, and it’s on retrofitting tour vans or tour cars. The land cruisers, the Toyota land cruisers are very synonymous with the safaris here.
ERIC OLANDER: The safaris, right. Yeah.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: So we have that. And then there is like a shift in Tanzania when it comes to e-mobility, green mobility.
ERIC OLANDER: Let me just stop you very quickly on the safari one, and why e-mobility is so interesting, because if you go out in a diesel Toyota land cruiser, the noise itself can scare away some of the animals. So by actually going out in a silent EV car, it creates a better tourism experience for visitors to go to these parks, and again, could then drive more business to the parks because people have a better experience because more animals come closer to the vehicles and people get closer to the experience of it all. So again, there’s just all sorts of ramifications that come from this beyond just the environmental effects.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Yeah. So in addition to, of course, the savings, because you find that guys who operate diesel vehicles like buses, I have spoken with some in Basigo and others in, you know…
ERIC OLANDER: And what’s Basigo?
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Basigo is the company that has been doing electric buses in Kenya, the BYD buses in Kenya. I’ve spoken with some of the operators and they’re like, when they were operating diesel buses, they were spending 40-50% more on fuel than they are doing now. So you find that for someone who was spending probably $100 on fuel, they are now spending maybe like $60 or $50.
And yet they are doing the same number of trips that they were doing. And also this money goes to them. So basically they don’t have to work as hard, you know, as when they were operating the diesels.
But like I was saying, in terms of like even the tour, the safaris, trucks and all, when it comes to what you have said, there is silence, there is not as much disruption or noise that is coming from these vehicles, which disquiets the parks. And so the animals will not be startled or scared to be seen. They will be there, you will just happen on them.
And so there are many advantages that are happening with this. So in Tanzania, they are retrofitting these trucks and we’ll be visiting them and to see what they are doing. Then again, in Tanzania, the three wheelers are very popular.
And so we will also be looking at some of them as well. And two wheelers as well. And also renewable energy in terms of like completing the value chain, the energy value chain, whereby there is a company that is doing renewable energy by installing solar.
And so these solar installations are helping power these vehicles. So apart from, you know, the buildings where they are at, they are also being used to charge these electric vehicles, be it the tricycles, be it the bicycles, I mean, be it the e-bikes or even these safari trucks. So there are many stories that are coming up because again, we are getting feedback from people who are saying, oh, we are also doing this in this country.
So can you be able to spotlight this? So I know that as we grow, we will be getting more of these stories from across the continent.
ERIC OLANDER: Well, we hope that you will continue the great work that you’re doing. And we hope everybody listening to this will sign up to subscribe to the Africa EV show with Njenga Akina. Of course, it’s free.
You can get it everywhere. You get your podcasts on Apple, on Spotify, anywhere else. Also, you can follow it on YouTube.
We’ve got a playlist for it. And also he’s putting these great videos, these side videos. And one of the most interesting things about what’s going on on YouTube is when Njenga makes these videos, you know, behind the scenes and shows the cars and things like that.
It’s sparking this incredibly robust discussion in the comment section. And there’s just a lot of excitement about this. If you like tech, if you like innovation, if you like development, if you like mobility, this show is for you because what Njenga is doing is he’s introducing you to the key players in this space that you would probably not come across, you know, if you just were looking on your own.
So these amazing CEOs and these entrepreneurs who are creating next generation mobility in Africa, very just amazing work. So congratulations, Njenga. Thank you for joining us and for sharing more about it.
And we’re looking forward to, you know, showcasing more about what you’re doing on the platform.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: So guys, we’re doing a lot of great things. And what you need to do is so that you do not miss out. Just follow us, subscribe, and we will make sure that everything that we discover, we share with you.
There are so many things that we cannot discuss in this show, which are still coming up. So please make sure that you follow us, The Africa EV Show on YouTube. We are under China Global South Project.
So you will get to get all this information being served to you hot because when we discover it, we bring it to you. And there are so many, many things that are happening, so many innovations, so many creations that are coming with these collaborations. And so we’ll keep highlighting them.
And of course, making sure that as an African or as somebody who is interested in e-mobility, you do not miss out because some of these are hidden in spaces you can not easily get to, but we will make sure to dig them up for you so that you get to know what is happening in this space across the continent. Eric, we cannot, you know, ex-host this. It’s too big.
It’s too much.
ERIC OLANDER: Yeah, it’s a big space. And we’re going to put all the links in the show notes, so you can sign up both to the YouTube channel and the playlist there, as well as to the podcast. And this is really the first of a number of new podcasts that we’re going to be rolling out this year.
Gero, Obert Bore, and myself are going to start launching a Critical Minerals podcast that’s going to come out twice a month, talking about the latest in African Critical Minerals mining, also in South America as well. I mean, there’s just so much interest in this space. And so we’ve been doing a lot more there, and there’s been a lot of demand for deeper discussions on that topic.
And it’s just part of all the great work that Njenga, and Cobus, and Gero, and Obert, Lucy, are all doing around the world in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East for the China Global South project. But this work cannot be done without your support. And the best way to support independent, agenda-free, fact-based journalism on what the Chinese are doing around the world is to sign up for a subscription at ChinaglobalSouth.com.
Go to ChinaglobalSouth.com slash subscribe. Subscriptions are very affordable. We try to make it accessible for everybody.
We’ve got a fantastic reader community spread, again, around the world, in governments, in academia, and we’d love for you to join us. And don’t forget, if you are a student or a teacher, you get half off. Just email me, Eric, at ChinaglobalSouth.com.
So Cobus and I will be back again next week with another edition of the China in Africa podcast. For Njenga Akina in Nairobi and Cobus in Cape Town, I’m Eric Olander. Thank you so much for listening and for watching.
