Fiscal pressures more than green energy ambitions are tilting Ethiopia’s transport system towards electric vehicles. Since 2024, the share of EVs in Ethiopia has risen from 1% to 6% – the global average is 4%. To cut oil imports, the Addis Ababa government banned the import of internal combustion vehicles, and tariffs for EVs were dropped to 15% for completed cars, 5% for parts and semi-assembled vehicles, and zero for vehicles shipped in parts and assembled locally. EVs are now more viable than older petrol vehicles. In December, your correspondent found that more than half the taxis on the ‘Ride’ app in Addis were EVs.

South Africa, Uganda and Rwanda have similarly amended tax codes and other laws to promote EV imports and production. In Nairobi, a fast-growing number of motorbike taxis is electric. Chinese firm Neta has a plant in Kenya but electric cars remain scarce due to the political clout of the used car import lobby in Mombasa.

Morocco, which offers hefty tax incentives to EV manufacturing investments, is a leading beneficiary. Its EV production has overtaken South Africa as the continent’s largest vehicle producer. Rwanda and Egypt have launched new production lines. Now South Africa has cut taxes on EVs to secure its share of Chinese production. Chinese firms, led by BYD and Geely, have pulled well ahead of Elon Musk’s Tesla and Germany’s VW globally – and the gap is widening.