KENYA – Public utility Kenya Power  has announced plans to roll out electric vehicle charging stations in Kenya as it eyes new revenues streams and boost demand for electric cars.

The electricity distributor said it would build a nationwide network of public charging points, removing one of the hurdles for use of electric cars in Kenya.

Kenya has joined the global push to promote the use of electric vehicles and reduce reliance on petrol and diesel, the country’s biggest import item.

Analysts acknowledge the high price of electric cars would not appeal to most African consumers but said scaling up production and favourable government policy could help bring prices down.

“As part of our implementation plan, we are developing appropriate infrastructure and building internal capacity to enable us to support the use of electric vehicles across the value chain,” said Kenya Power CEO Bernard Ngugi.

“To this end, we plan to set up charging facilities across the country beginning with Nairobi to support direct charging of vehicles,” added Mr Ngugi without giving timeliness for the roll out.

Kenya Power is expected to set the electric car charging points along major highways, parking lots and malls.

Kenya Power joins Kenya Electricity Generating Company  (KenGen), which also recently announced it is investing in electric car charging system.

Scaling up the project will see both Kenya Power and KenGen generate revenue from vehicle owners who will require to charge their vehicles, but this is heavily dependent on the technology picking up in the country.

The use of electric vehicles has been gaining momentum in European, America and Asian countries as the world turns attention to cutting down on greenhouse gas emission.

“We are developing appropriate infrastructure and building internal capacity to enable us to support the use of electric vehicles across the value chain and to this end, we plan to set up charging facilities starting with Nairobi to support direct charging of vehicles”

However, the high price, insufficient charging infrastructure and energy-storing batteries have been cited as the main challenges for the adoption and growth of the electric vehicle industry in African countries.

Imported used cars from Japan or the Middle East have offered an affordable route to vehicle ownership in Kenya and dominated the market for decades.

Nopea Ride, a taxi-hailing service that only uses electric cars, is scaling up operations in Kenya and the taxi hailing firm has so far installed charging stations in three locations, including the Two Rivers Mall, the Hub Karen, and Thika Road Mall in Nairobi.

An electric vehicle runs on the power stored in batteries which can take about an hour to fully charge and can drive for up to 250 kilometres.

To encourage the adoption of electric vehicles, Kenya reduced excise duty on the cars from 20 per cent to 10 per cent with the Kenya Bureau of Standards also adopting electric vehicle standards.

Kenya Power in partnership with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) unveiled a pilot electric bikes project in Kenya under which the electricity distributor will receive 50 e-bikes for its meter readers that will be used to test the usage of the motorcycle in Kenya.

The UNEP backed pilot includes ministries and counties and uses bikes donated by Shenzhen Shenling Car Company Limited whereby the employees of various agencies will use electric bikes in their day to day activities and will last 6-12 months.

“Kenya is importing more motorcycles than cars, doubling its fleet every 7-8 years. These are generally inefficient and poorly maintained polluting motorcycles,” said Joyce Msuya, UNEP Deputy Executive Director.

“Shifting to electric bikes in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and elsewhere will reduce costs, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as create employment.”

Uganda and Rwanda are racing ahead of their East African neighbours in the global switch to electric motoring, even as infrastructure shortcomings limit investments in the emerging sector.

Both Kampala and Kigali in 2019 unveiled electric vehicle assembly plants, blazing the regional trail with Kenya and Tanzania only making baby steps toward embracing the new technology.

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