February 24, 2025

Kenya ruling sets precedent for e-bikes assembly

February 23, 2025

Ebee Mobility Kenya, a Kenya-based electric bicycle assembler, will pay more taxes after its parts were classified as complete bicycles as opposed to completely-knocked-down (CKD) kits, which benefit from lower taxes. The ruling, made by a tribunal last week, emphasized that a motor, not a battery, fundamentally defines an e-bike.

  • The ruling means that e-bike assemblers will be paying the standard 25% import duty on parts, more than double the preferential 10% duty that CKD kits currently enjoy, raising their cost of operations. 

  • The consequence of this is that electric mobility companies operating in Kenya will have to tweak their models to significantly include local components in their vehicles to qualify for preferential taxes.

  • Our take: The precedent-setting ruling presents a timely opportunity for local manufacturers to raise their capacity to make the vehicle parts needed by EV assemblers… Read more (2 min)

The Egyptian government has signed a deal with electric vehicles company Infinity EV & renewable energy services provider Hassan Allan Utilities to set up nationwide charging stations. The two companies will establish the stations at petroleum outlets operated by state-owned gas firms Misr Petroleum and Gastec. 

  • There are more than 3,140 fuel service stations in Egypt. Petroleum companies such as Gastec, already owning vast networks of high-trafficked service stations, have emerged as key providers of space for installation of EV charging stations. 

  • On the other hand, EV firms such as Infinity are shopping for prime locations to establish their charging stations. Egypt is aiming to combine the government-owned network of service stations with private sector expertise to accelerate rollout of charging stations. 

  • Our take: The initiative could influence a review of EV regulations such as the suitable distance between EV chargers and their implementation strategy… Read more (2 min)

Namibia has become the latest country in Africa to approve a regulatory framework governing electric vehicle charging infrastructure, pricing and oversight. It specifies conditions required to install EV charging stations. Namibia joins countries like Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia that have introduced regulations on the same.

  • Namibia has only one public EV charging station, which was launched last week in its capital Windhoek. The new framework gives clarity to investors on what is needed to install a station, and the public on what it will cost to use it.  

  • The Southern Africa country has one of the smallest fleets of EVs in Africa, thanks to its small population of just 3 million people. This means that demand for charging stations remains low.

  • Our take: Namibia’s small population makes it an unattractive market for EV charging infrastructure companies which require significant traffic to make money… Read more (2 min)

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Dodai’s Manufacturing manager Abiero Origa, first from right, engaging with EV experts at a networking event in Ethiopia

Events

🗓️ Nigeria hosts West Africa Automotive Show (May 13)

🗓️ Africa E-Mobility Alliance hosts webinar on carbon credits in e-mobility (Feb 27)

🗓️ Kenya hosts Auto Expo Africa (May 28)

Jobs

👩🏻‍💻 Spiro seeks an Embedded Systems Engineer (Nigeria)

👷🏻‍♂️ Shift EV seeks a Senior Productions Engineer (Egypt)

👩‍💼 Kofa seeks a Customer Support Specialist (Ghana)

Various 

🏆 Motorhino e-motorcycles mark their first 1 million km travelled in Togo

🤵🏻 Msingo John exits his Chief Revenue Officer role at EVChaja

🙍‍♂️ Praveen Kumar to lead Dodai's battery swapping Infrastructure

📱 Spiro introduces RT 4090 NVDIA GPU for data management

Seen on LinkedIn 

Simon Davis, Founder and CEO of OX Delivers, hints that the success of EV startups is linked to smaller markets with low competition and niches with slow inertia.

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