Why Chinese electric vehicle brands could "take a lead" in Africa

South China Morning Post has published an article arguing that Chinese companies would be rolling out more models at affordable prices with both petrol and hybrid powertrain options. Caliber.Az reprints the article.

If you take a bus to the airport in Nairobi, it might be an electric-powered one – probably manufactured by a Chinese company.

Several bus companies operating in the Kenyan capital now have electric vehicles in their fleets as the country takes baby steps to decarbonise road transport.

Kenyan electric vehicle firm BasiGo is one of the companies supplying the buses, in partnership with China’s largest EV maker BYD.

It has so far delivered 19 BYD K6 electric buses to customers in Nairobi and installed the first three DC fast-charging depots along bus routes in the city, according to Jit Bhattacharya, co-founder and CEO of BasiGo.

“BasiGo has already received over 130 reservations for electric buses from bus operators in Nairobi eager to make the switch from their diesel buses,” he said.

The buses are imported into Kenya partially assembled from BYD Auto in China and completed at Associated Vehicle Assemblers in Mombasa, and they will begin full assembly of the BYD electric buses later this year.

BasiGo is not alone in the race to electrify public transport in Kenya. Swedish-Kenyan electric vehicle firm Roam is also rolling out electric buses and motorcycles in Nairobi. In July it opened an assembly plant in the city to manufacture 50,000 electric motorbikes a year.

But across Africa, the uptake for electric vehicles is still low compared with Europe and the United States due to their cost and a lack of adequate access to electricity.

Still, Chinese EV makers such as BYD, Geely, Dongfeng Motor, Great Wall Motor, SAIC Motor, Haval and JAC Motors are expanding in Africa. They sell vehicles in markets such as South Africa, Rwanda, Egypt, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Morocco and Nigeria.

When BYD launched its first electric SUV in South Africa, the Atto 3, in June, its general manager for sales in the Middle East and Africa, Ad Huang, emphasised the company’s green credentials.

“We are offsetting nearly 35 billion kilograms of carbon emissions. This milestone is equivalent to planting nearly 600 million trees across our planet,” Huang said.

It is the second Chinese EV to enter the South African market this year after the GWM Ora, which is priced from about US$38,500 to US$49,200. The Atto 3 costs from about US$41,260 to US$44,860. Premium models from Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi start at well over US$53,720 – way out of reach for most South Africans.

Saliem Fakir, executive director of the African Climate Foundation, said while Chinese vehicles dominated in most African markets the uptake of EVs was low because of the lack of reliable electricity and other barriers associated with electric vehicles.

He gave the example of South Africa, where there are an estimated 12 million cars on the road and just over 1,000 of them are EVs.

But he said electric bus initiatives such as those in Cape Town and Nigeria were having an impact, and most of the Chinese EV uptake was in the public transport sector as companies looked to lower their operating costs.

“The lack of charging infrastructure and adequate and reliable electricity is the main deterrent for many consumers to shift towards EVs despite their benefits,” Fakir said.

He also noted the growth in e-bikes in Kenya and Rwanda, supplied by Chinese companies and assembled in the two African nations.

Walt Madeira, principal analyst for Europe, the Middle East and Africa vehicle forecasting at S&P Global Mobility, said the Chinese brands were giving EV buyers more choices at lower costs.

But he said the price would ideally need to be under 500,000 rand (US$26,860) for mainstream car buyers to embrace EVs, so he expected “limited demand in the short term”.

He said Chinese companies such as Great Wall Motors, Haval and Chery would be rolling out more models at affordable prices with both petrol and hybrid powertrain options.

In South Africa, Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, a visiting researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, said there were just 532 plug-in hybrid EVs sold from 2017 to 2022. Some 5,250 hybrids and 1,092 battery EVs were sold in that period.

Mashilo attributed the low uptake to price and a shortage of electricity and noted that EVs were “far cheaper” in China than in South Africa.

He said power companies were “load shedding” in South Africa – reducing consumption by cutting off supply to some customers – because there was not enough electricity to meet demand.

Also, unlike China “South Africa does not have an EV charging infrastructure at all. This means only those who can afford the high cost of EVs … [and] electricity and do want EVs are a market for them”, Mashilo said.

“Given the comparatively lower price of Chinese vehicle brands in South Africa compared to European and the US brands, Chinese brands stand a chance to take a lead going forward,” he added.