• Mobility Rising
  • Posts
  • How about your car battery charges your country's grid?

How about your car battery charges your country's grid?

April 15, 2025

South African electric vehicle charging company Zimi Charge has secured a grant of €280,000 ($317,200) from EEP Africa to launch Africa’s first commercial vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging technology. Zimi says the pioneering project will showcase how EVs can help stabilise South Africa’s fragile grid, support energy resilience, and accelerate the clean energy transition. 

  • Vehicle-to-grid charging is a technology that enables energy to be pushed back to the power grid from the battery of an EV, with the EV essentially serving as a battery to store energy. With V2G technology, an EV battery can be discharged based on different signals – such as energy production or consumption nearby.

  • While V2G technology is taking root in the US and other developed economies, it is a new concept in Africa. Most African countries do not envision their power grids being fed by households or EVs. Even for those like Kenya that have net metering for individuals to feed back electricity to the grid, it does not offer monetary compensation, meaning V2G would not give direct economic benefits. 

  • Our take: The main barrier for the V2G technology in Africa will be the lack of an enabling regulatory environment in most countries to allow for back feeding power to the grid… Read more (2 min)

The cost of charging electric vehicles in Kenya at the main public stations has reduced in April compared to March amid stiff competition from new service providers. A survey by Mobility Rising shows that the average cost of charging and swapping a fully charged battery went down from $0.95 per kWh in March to $0.75 in April, handing relief to EV owners.

  • The reduction in the cost of charging makes EV ownership more affordable, encouraging individuals and businesses, especially in a cost-sensitive country like Kenya, to switch from fossil fuel-powered vehicles to EVs. For commercial fleets, reduced costs mean greater operational savings, which increases the appeal of fleet electrification. 

  • We surveyed six of the biggest charging station providers in the capital Nairobi and noted prices to charge an electric car and swap an electric motorcycle. We also collected data for both AC and DC charging to assess what motorists are paying for different charging speeds. 

  • Our take: It is difficult for EV users to predict charging costs in Kenya as the country changes its electricity prices monthly thus making planning harder… Read more (2 min)

    Op-ed: How to reimagine the mobility revolution

Smart mobility in Africa is not just about navigating cities—it’s about unlocking the continent’s economic pulse and social potential, argues Tokunbo Arannilewa, CEO and founder of Nigerian fleet management company Eonsfleet Inc. Electric vehicles will eventually play a role in this revolution, but it needs to be a strategic, phased approach, he says.

  • His commentary calls for a fundamental reimagining of transport as a vehicle for social equity. He believes Africa is well-positioned to leapfrog outdated infrastructure through digital innovation, including ride-sharing platforms and intelligent logistics systems.

  • The lack of the necessary infrastructure, he adds, is the biggest elephant in the room when it comes to EVs. He says Nigeria, and the continent at large, need a reliable national grid before it can viably support large-scale EV charging. Furthermore, dedicated charging infrastructure for depots and potentially en-route charging needs massive investment. 

  • To explore more about Tonkubo’s opinion continue reading (2 min)

 Nassuna Aliyah, Zembo’s staff, assembling an electric motorcycle in Uganda

Events

🗓️ Register for Africa Nordic E-mobility event happening in Kenya (April 29)

🗓️ Join transport professions at CILT Africa Forum in Rwanda (April 28)

Jobs

👨🏻‍💼 Apply for Administrative Assistant role at Gigmile (Nigeria)

👨🏻‍💻 Join Kofa’s IT team as a DevOps Engineer (Ghana)

🔌 Become a Charging Network Attendant at BasiGo (Rwanda)

Various 

⚡ VineCharge to begin a pilot launch in Nigeria

🔜 Roam eyes on Machakos County, Kenya market after conducting public parades

🆕 MOGO Kenya opens five additional branches

Seen on LinkedIn 

Viren Sookhun, Managing Director at Oxyon People Solutions, says, “Electric vehicles (EVs) remain a controversial topic, particularly in countries such as South Africa where longer driving distances, electricity shortages and high import taxes for these vehicles continue to discourage mass adoption.”