Rwanda’s EVPlugin to construct 200 charging stations

From the newsletter

EVPlugin announced a new partnership yesterday. The charging infrastructure company shared on LinkedIn that it will install over 200 EV charging stations in Rwanda over the next three years as it targets to meet expected demand. This follows Rwanda's recent announcement to ban petrol motorcycles in the city of Kigali.

• EVPlugin has been in operation since 2017 and has mainly focused on providing charging stations for electric motorcycles, not battery swapping. 

• The company will partner with the city of Kigali to build over 40 fast EV charging stations and is also collaborating with other companies to build a total of 200 stations.

More details

• Rwanda's charging infrastructure is currently underdeveloped and cannot support widespread EV adoption for cars or two/three-wheeled vehicles. 

• Kigali has over 20 charging stations for EVs, but most are slow, requiring up to 2 hours for a full charge.

• Electric motorcycle companies are primarily focussing on battery-swapping stations to support their fleets. 

• Key players like Ampersand and Spiro have extensive networks of these stations. For example, Ampersand delivers 40 MWh of power to over 3,500 motorcycles daily, covering over 630,000km.

• In the electric bus and cars sector, companies like BasiGo, IZI, and Kabisa are also developing charging infrastructure, but it remains limited compared to motorcycles. 

• IZI introduced one of the first fast-charging stations, allowing EV owners to charge in under 30 minutes for $0.3 per KW.

• Building charging infrastructure is expensive. A basic EV charging point costs $2,200 with tax exemption, while advanced ones cost around $22,000. 

• Even with incentives like free land for charging stations on government-owned property, the cost remains a significant barrier.

• Companies like EVPlugin rely on partnerships with key players like the City of Kigali, Oryx Energies, RUBiS Energy Rwanda, MEREZ, and Mount Meru Rwanda for support.

• Kabisa is also using this strategy and has partnered with Societe Petroliere Ltd, an oil distribution company, to establish 15 charging stations across 12 regions.

• Despite having some of the region's most favourable policies and incentives, including funding from the Rwanda Green Fund, Rwanda lags behind countries like Kenya in charging infrastructure development.

Our take

• The recent ban on petrol motorcycles means the market for electric motorcycles will grow, and the charging infrastructure needs to keep pace. 

• Partnering with petrol stations and government agencies to provide space for charging infrastructure can save costs, especially given the high price of land in cities. 

• However, this alone is not enough. More government support is needed, particularly in funding and local manufacturing of charging infrastructure components.