African Dawn Investments signs deal for EV chargers

February 03, 2025

From the newsletter

African Dawn Investments, a South African finance company, has entered into a partnership with Singaporean energy storage firm WaterCloud International and Chinese original equipment manufacturer Beny New Energy for the roll-out of electric vehicle chargers and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs) across South Africa.

  • The roll out will begin in March and continue for 5 years. The company is planning further expansion into the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the rest of Africa as part of its medium to long-term strategy.

  • The EV chargers and BESSs will be powered by hydrogen. They are designed to operate entirely off the grid, providing reliable and sustainable energy solutions for remote and underserved areas.

More details

  • The collaboration will make use of hydrogen power and vanadium redox flow batteries, along with advanced energy storage technologies to ensure uninterrupted power supply. Both alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) EV chargers will be provided, ranging from 7 kWh to 600 kWh.

  • The roll-out of the hydrogen-powered EV chargers and BESSs will begin early this year, with a focus on providing the former to the network and power to regions most in need of reliable energy infrastructure.

  • Hydrogen is a carbon-free fuel. When it is generated using renewable energy, it is referred to as green hydrogen. Hydrogen fuel cells react hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity. The only by-product is water, which is what makes hydrogen such an attractive alternative fuel source. 

  • Hydrogen fuel cells offer a compelling alternative to traditional electric grids for powering EV charging stations, especially in remote areas. This technology can operate independently from the electrical grid by generating electricity directly at its point of use.

  • Currently, most off-grid EV charging stations in Africa utilize solar energy, which is abundant on the continent. However, a number of African countries are making headway in developing local hydrogen industries.

  • In November 2023 for instance, Kenya commissioned its first green hydrogen plant in Morendat, Nakuru County. The facility comprises a 2.1 MWp solar PV installation with 780 kWh lithium-ion storage supplying a 1 MW alkaline electrolyzer. The facility produces one ton of green ammonia per day.

  • South Africa also produces hydrogen. According to the Hydrogen Society Roadmap (HSRM), the country aims to produce 500,000 tonnes per annum of green hydrogen by 2030. It could also achieve a price of $1.60 per kg of green hydrogen by 2030, one of the lowest costs worldwide. 

  • Off-grid charging stations are fairly new in South Africa. CHARGE, formerly Zero Carbon Charge, officially opened its first off-grid solar-powered EV charging station in the country in November 2024. The company plans to establish a total of 120 off-grid charging stations across South Africa. 

Our take

  • Eskom, South Africa’s power utility, recently announced the resumption of rolling blackouts after a 10-month hiatus. This underscores the inability of the country’s current power generation to meet demand. Off-grid power systems that especially run on renewable energy such as solar offer one solution to South Africa’s inability to provide reliable power supply.

  • Setting up an off-grid EV charging station is expensive. Costs can range between $28,000 to $100,000 or more per station depending on the size of the battery storage system. This level of capital is simply out of reach of most start-ups in Africa. What will make the difference is the capacity of Africa’s EV startups to raise funds to establish these capital-intensive charging points.

  • Emerging energy sources such as hydrogen come with challenges. Being a gas, hydrogen requires a lot of space for storage. It also requires special equipment to store and transport. The gas also poses a fire risk if not well handled. Hydrogen is fairly new to Africa, and as such, the continent needs to take great care on how it handles hydrogen and other emerging energy sources for their proper utilization.