Two-wheelers dominate the electric vehicles (EVs) uptake in Kenya, as growth has been bogged down by a lack of adequate electric charging infrastructure and acquisition costs.
Industry data from the Electric Mobility Association of Kenya (EMAK) shows that electrIc motorcycles and bicycles made up 95.2 percent (8,712 units) of the 9,144 EVs registered in Kenya as at December last year.
Buses, minibuses and passenger cars, which are electric-powered make up a paltry 2.7 percent or 247 units of the total EVs, signalling that uptake remains low despite efforts by the government to scale up the popularity of these units.
However, official data from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) puts the total EVs, including motor bikes and tuk tuks, in Kenya at a lower figure of 6,442 units as at June this year.
Kenya has over the past few years adopted an array of incentives to scale up uptake of EVs as part of lowering the environmental damage caused by diesel and petrol-powered engines.
“Electric vehicles are growing across multiple segments of the industry. However, this growth has been most notable in the bicycle, motorcycle and bus segments. The fastest growth is witnessed in electric two wheelers, which make up 90 percent of all registered EVs,” EMAK says in a report.
The number of EVs in the country has surged 1,048.74 percent from 796 three years ago, according to the EMAK data amid State-led incentives to spur use of the vehicles.
The data further shows that electric motorcycles accounted for seven percent of all new registrations for the units as at December last year. Electric buses and passenger cars accounted for 1.11 percent and 0.18 percent respectively of the total buses and passenger cars that were registered last year.
EMAK is the industry lobby for EVs in Kenya and its membership includes BasiGo, Roam, Ampersand, Spiro and ChargeNet Kenya.
The government introduced a special tariff for EVs in April 2023, where a kilowatt-hour of electricity goes for Sh8 and Sh16 for off-peak and peak times respectively.
Additionally, the government lowered excise duty on EVs from 20 percent to 10 percent and exempted them Value Added Tax (VAT) as some of the State incentives for Kenya’s nascent transport sub-sector.
The number of charging stations for EVs currently stands at 300 and this looks set to rise if the government implements a $47.26 million (Sh6.12 billion) project to install 10,000 charging stations across the country.
A lack of charging stations for EVs especially outside Nairobi remains one the biggest challenges derailing uptake of the vehicles, underscoring why roll-out of the 10,000 facilities is integral to Kenya’s EV drive.
Kenya generates more than 90 percent of its power from renewable sources and has been positioning itself as a hub to lead Africa's shift to green transport.
