This piece was originally published on the Energy for Growth Hub on June 24, 2025. Science by Rose M. Mutiso on November 28, 2024. Republished in full with permission. Read the original post here.

We’re excited to announce the full launch of the Africa EV Readiness and Impact Index, the first continent-wide tool to assess electric vehicle (EV) adoption potential and its wider societal impacts. This release includes indicator-level maps, interactive features, and downloadable data to support smarter policymaking, investment, and planning.

This launch builds on the beta Index we released in 2024. Over the past year, we’ve deepened our analysis, consulted with a wide range of African EV sector actors, and published a series of targeted deep dives into urgent questions shaping Africa’s EV future. This memo distills the top takeaways from that work:

1. Data gaps are blocking EV progress in Africa. African decision-makers are navigating the EV transition without the data they need to craft smart policy or guide investment. Anecdotes and isolated startup success stories dominate the conversation, while global EV outlooks overlook Africa entirely or focus narrowly on a few countries like South Africa. Despite its critical role, data remains underfunded and undervalued, an invisible barrier to scaling electric mobility on the continent. Learn more here.

2. Africa’s EV landscape splits into emulators, innovators, stragglers, and wildcards. Our data reveals three distinct EV trajectories across the continent. Learn more here and here.

   • Emulators like Seychelles, Morocco, Mauritius, and South Africa mirror global trends, with stronger infrastructure, higher motorization, and a focus on passenger vehicles, public charging rollout, and fleet electrification. But despite higher readiness, they face scale-up barriers like limited financing and policy inertia. Morocco and South Africa — home to Africa’s largest auto manufacturing industries — are aiming to pivot toward EV production for global markets, though Morocco is considerably further ahead in pursuing this vision.

   • Innovators like Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda are building homegrown EV ecosystems around two- and three-wheelers, with startups pioneering new models for local assembly, ownership, financing, and charging. But weak grids, low incomes, and policy uncertainty constrain market size and growth.

   • Stragglers, the vast majority of African countries, lack most of the basics: reliable power, enabling EV policies, sufficient vehicle demand, or access to finance. As a result, much of the continent remains far from ready to adopt and scale electric mobility.

   • Wildcards like Ethiopia and Nigeria defy simple categorization, but could become influential players due to their size and regional importance. Ethiopia’s abrupt pivot — including the world’s first internal combustion engine (ICE) ban and a strong push for local manufacturing — raises major questions about implementation capacity, grid readiness, and affordability. Nigeria, meanwhile, lags in EV readiness but ranks among the highest in potential impact. How it navigates these challenges and leverages its strengths will determine whether it emerges as a regional EV leader or remains a story of unfulfilled promise.

3. Solving EV affordability in Africa means tackling poverty first. Africa’s motorization rate is four times lower than the global average, and our analysis shows a strong correlation with per capita income. In short, low incomes are suppressing vehicle demand across the continent. We project that vehicle demand in the region will double by 2050 as economies grow, though they will remain well below global levels. While tools like battery-as-a-service and digital lending can help, the biggest barrier to EV affordability isn’t just cost — it’s poverty. Scaling EVs will require both targeted financial solutions and broader economic development. Learn more here.

4. Africa’s grids are not ready for large-scale EV adoption. Most countries would need to divert more than a fifth of their ten-year electricity demand growth to support 30% of road transportation shifting to EVs. Additionally, grid instability is widespread, with only eight countries meeting high reliability standards, posing a challenge for integrating EVs. Investing in grid infrastructure is especially valuable, as it supports broader economic growth beyond just EVs. Learn more here (Readiness Index maps) and here.

5. The climate case for EVs in Africa is weak, but air quality and economic gains are strong. EVs won’t deliver major climate gains in most African countries, where transport emissions are modest and clean power is limited. But they can significantly improve urban air quality and reduce costly fossil fuel imports, making them compelling for public health and economic gains. Our data shows that 24 African countries have high EV impact potential, but only 12 have high EV readiness. This gap underscores the need for less-ready countries to pursue targeted, no-regrets policies that lay the groundwork for future benefits. Governments should prioritize power sector upgrades, enabling policies, better data infrastructure, and support for public and private sector experiments such as fleet electrification pilots and local EV startups. Learn more here (Impact Index maps) and here.