Ghana’s Solar Taxi was launched as a pilot project in 2019, initially operating a solar-powered taxi service, importing vehicles and components from China. Today, it has grown into Ghana’s leading e-mobility company and ranks as the third-largest electric vehicle assembler in Africa.
As demand for EVs increased, Solar Taxi expanded its operations beyond ride-hailing.
Solar Taxi transitioned from leasing e-taxis to supplying EVs across multiple sectors, including e-bikes, passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses. This shift aligns with the rising demand for electric transportation in Ghana. According to the Ghana Shippers Authority, the country imported approximately 17,660 plug-in electric vehicles between January 2017 and December 2021. During the same period, the West African country imported 9,431 motorized electric two- and three-wheelers, primarily from China.
Show Notes:
- China Global South Project: Chinese EV Brands Are Gaining Popularity in Ghana— Solar Taxi Is Making Them More Affordable
- The B&FT Online: First National Bank partners Solar Taxi to promote electric vehicle ownership through Equity Release Loans by
- The Africa Report: BasiGo, SolarTaxi, Spiro: The African startups driving the electric vehicle revolution by Herald Aloo
About Emmanuel Agyapong:
Emmanuel Agyapong, CHRBP, is a seasoned professional with a strong background in human resources, talent acquisition, and organizational development. He is the Chief Operating Officer at SolarTaxi and has worked with Gratitude India, AIDEC Consultancies International Ltd, and more. Emmanuel has excelled in roles such as Chief Operating Officer, HR Technology Consultant, and Head of Human Resources Business Partner. Emmanuel is dedicated to optimizing operational efficiency, employee development, and performance enhancement. He holds degrees and certificates in fields such as Clean Energy, Human Resources Management, and Organizational Health and Safety, showcasing his commitment to professional growth and development.
Transcript:
Njenga Hakeenah: Hello everyone, electric vehicles are gaining popularity globally and in Ghana, Chinese EVs are among the most common that you will find as passenger cars and in logistics. Additionally, Chinese tech is being used across various sectors like solar power generation and storage, and high demand transportation like e-bikes. By the way, for energy, there is recycling that is happening with batteries that have gotten to the end of life in vehicles and they are being repurposed for energy storage.
Solar Taxi, a Ghanaian EV company, is one of the businesses that have tapped into the Chinese tech space to address the country’s local needs of transitioning to renewable energy vehicles and energy storage.
My name is Njenga Hakeenah and join me with my guest Emmanuel Agyapong, the Chief Operating Officer at Solar Taxi in Ghana. Chinese tech is at the center of what you are doing and probably you can start off by telling us a little bit about this tech and why you settled for it.
Emmanuel Agyapong: It’s easy and affordable for you to get it. We’re going through this project, it’s just a matter of getting things together to test whether what’s our idea is feasible. So, we got a few people who have completed, they invested together as a project to see any other alternative way that we can power our vehicles.
So, going forward, we are looking at how we’ll be able to do it and then we decided to see if it’s possible we can use the electric aspect of it to power the vehicles. But looking at the things that we’re looking for and the components and the parts, I mean Chinese things were easily and affordable for us to start with because you start with something that you don’t have much money, you don’t have capital to it, you are just pushing two together. So, you look at the most affordable one available for you to do.
So, that gave us the opportunity to chance on the Chinese tree, the Chinese components and subsequently, we’ve been able to leverage on it and as moving along, that is where we are still looking at.
Njenga: So, there’s affordability and easy access to it. What you can probably help us understand is the EV space in Ghana. How is it like?
Agyapong: Solar Taxi, we started somewhere in 2019 as a project and we pioneered it. But we made a lot of noise about it. We made a lot of media cases about it. So, a lot of people now understand it. They don’t have the money or funds for it, but they want to experience it. So, there’s that kind of conversation that’s going on.
So, investors are also coming to it. So, it’s still growing and it’s still driven by individuals and companies. The government agencies are there to give us support on policy implement directions and their standards.
But I think for Ghana, we’ve moved beyond that. The standards have been done. We’ve got a standard for the charging stations. We’ve got a standard for some specific EVs that we can bring into the country. So, that alone has given us the edge for us to move along and then also create more opportunities for people. So, Ghana, I think we’ve done that.
But compared to the last two years, we’ve moved ahead, gone up ahead.
Njenga: What kind of EVs are the most popular with you and your customers and why is this?
Agyapong: Well, my sister’s Chinese EVs. But currently, we have two-wheelers and three-wheelers and also four-wheelers. The two-wheelers are mostly the bikes and the three-wheelers and the four-wheelers are the cars. Mostly, what we have with the cars is the Bontemps, the BYDs. And then, because we see that these are the most foremost EVs that came in and we are more likely to associate with the first thing that you put your hand on.
You understand it and it’s easy for you to be able to learn about it. So, you want to have assurance of whatever you have done before. So, the BYDs and the Cherys and then the other ones, that’s what we are doing.
The Dongfen, these are some of the things that we are currently working with.
Njenga: You started as a taxi company and now you’re selling these vehicles and the tricycles and the e-bikes. What informed this move?
Agyapong: We call it Solar Taxi. The idea was basically for the use of solar to power our taxis. That was the idea and that’s where we are moving into it. So, the taxi is part of the whole company.
We are an e-mobility company, whatever it is, however the vehicles, we can then work on it and give it to you. So, that’s basic. But the taxi aspect is just one aspect or one unit of the company.
So, that’s where we start. So, when we are able to get the vehicles, then we try to see if that will work and then we did that. For the Solar Taxi, we do a lot of things. We even sell buses, cars and bikes. So, everything e-mobility, we are into it.
Njenga: All right. And the buses are also Chinese?
Agyapong: Yes, of course.
Njenga: Among your customers, which are the most popular?
Agyapong: The bikes. We have a lot of the bikes, close to over 400 bikes in circulation. And the cars too. So, basically, it’s the bikes that we have because we are mostly using for delivery services and also for courier services.
Njenga: All right.
Agyapong: So, basically, we have a lot of it in there.
Njenga: What would you say is your strategic move into this country and into this market, especially in the EV transport sector?
Agyapong: Well, strategically, we are the leaders in that. And then, so basically, it’s about developing partnerships. That’s the best thing. Association, companies, organizations, and then you can sell through them. That’s the best option for that.
Aside from individuals who want to come in and do one, two, three, we are mostly looking at partnership and then also working with other agencies who it’s easy for us to speak to them. If they understand us, it’s easy for you to go there.
Njenga: In your taxi business, how many Chinese EVs do you have?
Agyapong: During our test case, we were able to have affordable Chinese cars and also accessible Chinese cars. So, these are the key things that drive us to move into the Chinese cars. And when we got there, because it’s a new venture, we’re able to understand the architecture and how it works. So, we are more comfortable with that.
And then, that’s why it gives us the edge to get more of that vehicle. Sterling, we have about 10 of them on the right-hand side. That’s where we are giving out drivers for them to use it to work. And then, they make continuous payment. Once they finish paying, they take their car.
Njenga: You’re also helping them shift from using ICE engine vehicles to only electric.
So, you get this taxi, you pay for it using whatever premiums, maybe whatever you are using for fuel. And then, at the end of it, it is yours to own. Globally, charging infrastructure remains a challenge. How is this in Ghana?
Agyapong: Years back, these were some of the setbacks that we encountered. But for us at Solar Taxi, every client has at least a 22 kilowatt charger. So, we sell it in addition to the car.
So, most of our clients, we’re not having challenges with the charging infrastructure. However, those people who use commercial, who are in commercial activity, may have that challenge. But as we are growing and there are standards available, we have the individuals have come in, the investors have come in.
In Ghana, we can boast of up to about five charging stations in Accra. So, it’s commendable. And it’s going to boost the people’s appetite for the EVs because the benefits are still quite better, quite more than where we go. So, the charging station, as we speak now, is not as much of an issue as it used to be. Because currently, individuals have come in, companies have come in, and they are now mounted. We currently have about 160 kilowatts of charging infrastructure in Ghana.
So, within a few minutes, you are there to charge.
Njenga: Apart from charging infrastructure, what are the major challenges to EV adoption or people saying, I want an EV instead of an ICE vehicle, considering needs like electricity and affordability?
Agyapong: I saw a conversation that vehicles are a bit more expensive than the normal ICE vehicles. And in Africa, like Ghana, we are mostly into second-hand vehicles, home-use vehicles.
So, when you say that, they like to compare the price of a home-use vehicle to a brand new vehicle. And most of our cars are all brand new. So, they end up saying it’s expensive.
But if you look at the mathematics, it’s not much the cost of a brand new ICE vehicle and a four-wheel vehicle. The difference is not so much, unless that conversation goes on. So, we are able to have that discussion. However, it’s still a problem. It’s still a conversation. People still do not understand it.
So, communication has been the key, where people do not even understand what we are talking about. And the charging infrastructure, those people don’t even have the means to buy, will make it a charging infrastructure as a problem. Hmm.
So, the key here, the challenges here are one, the myth about the whole thing. The lack of knowledge about cost of financing the cars is a problem for us and for the individuals also coming. But going forward, I think people are able to understand that these challenges can be worked on.
And the finances can also be able to, we can also get a finance for the funding for all these things. I mean, it’s something that we can surmount. It’s been challenging the last one, two years.
It could be an opportunity for all of us to move through.
Njenga: All right. And African countries are largely second hand vehicle markets. In Kenya, we have an eight-year limit. Is there a limit in Ghana? Our Ghana is 10 years. Back to Kenya, there are vibrant local assembly activities, and which is a step toward local manufacturing. Is there similar activity in Ghana?
Agyapong: That is what at Solar Taxi, that’s what we intend to do. All we are doing in the case of the bikes, we are doing that. We are looking at getting local materials, plastics, and then also steel and other things to get it done.
But it’s challenging because currently, we don’t have a full knockdown, a full assembly plant. Most of it are mostly knockdown parts that we bring, that we put it together. We are here to start from scratch a whole new assembly plant where you can get all the parts together.
But I mean, for us, we make a headway. We’ve identified certain local partners who we believe that they can support what we’re doing. And these are fantastic guys.
We’ve tried some of them. They would give us what we are looking for. So I think that is what we are looking out for.
But we’ve not been able to scale our assembly plants to accommodate these opportunities. But going forward, when we’re able to start the big pool, we’ll be able to employ them to do whatever they want for us. It makes it even cheaper and also make it even easier for you to have a machine to play for you to rework on it.
And then when it comes, it helps the clients also. So basically, that’s what we are moving to. But it needs time for people to understand it before we can roll it out.
Njenga: You also deal with solar panels. And when people are buying your vehicles, do the panels come as a package with the vehicle buying or are they separate? With an EV, so for us, as I said, we need Solar Taxi. The need is for you to use a solar panel to charge the vehicles.
That’s basically it. If somebody buying an EV, which he’s saving over 80% on fuel, he sees that adding a solar panel is even okay because it’s already saving the money. But the people who we are looking at, those people who have like the bus and then also who own the fleet of vehicles, they have come with interest for us to do a solar panel for them.
But for the individual ones, it’s not part of the package. It’s a separate thing because it has a whole system. I have to go, it is cost separately for the main vehicle.
So these are some of the things that we are working on. But individuals or companies who want to have a fleet come to us for us to build a solar panel for them so that they are easy to charge the bus.
Njenga: At Solar Taxi, you also engineer and produce lithium ion batteries and then recycle cells and then engineer alternative use for the old batteries, the lithium ion ones to extend and ensure their sustainability.
How much of this is done with Chinese expertise or is it all local?
Agyapong: The batteries are still got from the Chinese markets but we use the local people to do the assembly. So we bring our own engineers. So the beauty of what we are doing is that we see we have a maintenance department, assembly and a maintenance department.
And we understand that after 10 years, the batteries degrade. So what we do is we don’t take off all the batteries. Then we work on the batteries that have challenges, that have degraded.
Then we fix them back. Then you get a new, you still get a new car or get a new battery for your car. So you don’t need to throw the battery away.
So we have a local people that we have trained who work on that. So we repurpose the batteries that we are taking from the cars. We repurpose it and fix it and then use it to do other things.
Other customers who want it, they can even use it to power their shop. You can even use it to power your houses. You can use it to even power the solar panels as a battery for the solar panels too so that you can extend the battery life. These are done locally.
Njenga: Okay, all right. So these batteries come from the dead batteries that you replace from the EVs and not necessarily from, you know, like sourcing them from China or elsewhere, right?
Agyapong: No, we do. They are both of them. The ones that we source are the ones that we use to replace the battery that has challenges. And then the ones that we are taking from the cars that has not degraded to the past stage. We repurpose it for other activities.
Njenga: What is the biggest obstacle that you need to overcome to be successful in Ghana? Especially now that there are so many companies that are coming up.
Agyapong: Two things, financial and human capital. That’s what we need expertise for. And for us, we train our people to do what we want.
So we have a training center that we train the people to do that. But it still doesn’t go to the infrastructure gaps, policy directions, and a high cost of EV components. Yes, these are also another thing that also affects us.
And then the public is also slow. The public institution is also slow. If you get them to be the key driver, it’s going to go a long way for us to move along.
Njenga: The talent that you use, the mechanics, the engineers, are these trained in China? Or what happens? Or do you get Chinese to come train them here in Ghana?
Agyapong: Initially, we did that. We brought a couple of them to come and train them. But they already have the background in maybe automobile or electrical engineering.
They’ll have the background in that. So moving into the EV space, it’s just a matter of they learn through what they are doing every day. Because we put them on a project, they work on it.
And then going forward, we also bring other people expertise. Last year, we got an expert from Germany, sponsored by GIZ, to come and then help them on some of the vehicles. Also, a couple of some from China to come and then also help them with some of the components and then also diagnostics of the vehicles.
So we got the opportunity to get some of them to come and help. But ultimately, we have a training academy that we take them to. And they learn practicals on the EVs and then we can hook it up and work on our own.
Njenga: All right. Now that you already have a footprint in Ghana, are you planning on regional expansion?
Agyapong: Yeah, definitely. We have a couple of our vehicles in Nigeria, Togo, and Burkina Faso. We have not been there. We’ve not set up an office there, but we have our guys working there. So from here, we communicate with them. We have also trained engineers there. That’s the local engineers in the locality to take care of these things.
But as part of our expansion drive, we move to other countries. So as part of it, that’s the best opportunity for us.
Njenga: All right. And where do you see the Ghanaian or African EV market in the next three to five years? It’s going to become big. I mean, Nigeria is a big market. Ghana is also another big market. And then when we forge it together, it makes it work. So does Côte d’Ivoire. So the adoption is coming here and there.
Kenya is fantastically doing whatever they want to do. Rwanda is also there. So Africa says that we should be able to even put it together and trade among ourselves.
It will be very, very important to grow the economy of Africa, especially components and then parts. It’s a critical moment that we can take advantage of.
Njenga: All right. So in the last two years, we really see a lot of organizations coming on board. All right.
Outro: Thank you so much, Emmanuel Agyapong. He is the COO, the Chief Operating Officer of Solar Taxi in Ghana. And as you heard, they are expanding and they have already started this with Burkina Faso, in Nigeria, in Togo. Their vehicles, their EVs are in those countries. And they also train. And there is so much more that he says is going to happen in this space.
So we need to watch out for what is coming from Solar Taxi in the next two years. And we’ll be following up, Emmanuel. Thank you so much for affording us your time and for allowing us to just pick your brain to understand what is happening within that space.
And for you, our audience and our fans, remember to share, to like, to subscribe. Because these conversations cannot be interesting unless there is your perspective. Also, if there is something that is happening within your country, please do share in the comments and we will be getting in touch with you and maybe we will be in your country next. Who knows? So again, do have a wonderful time.
And I look forward to seeing you again soon. Thank you.
