Five years ago, Rwanda announced plans to introduce environmentally friendly transport services as part of the efforts to prioritise a climate resilient low carbon economy.

Other initiatives to support the agenda included building smart green cities as well as the use of ICT and digital solutions for improved service delivery.

But it was not until April, last year, that a cabinet meeting approved a strategy for electric mobility adaptation aiming at increasing electric vehicles and motorcycles.

The main components reduced electricity tariffs, spare parts, batteries and charging station equipment treated as VAT zero rated products, as well as exemption from import and excise duties.

Other incentives included exemption of a five percent of withholding tax at customs, rent free land for charging stations, free license and authorisation for commercial EVs and also manufacturing and assembly firms getting 15 percent corporate income tax and tax holiday.

A year later, there is a growing fleet of electric vehicles in the capital, with the government considering electric buses to further cut down carbon emissions. 

From one place to another, you may find yourself on a quiet, zipping e-Golf, one of Volkswagen Electric Vehicles, or a different brand.

Just recently, British-Rwandan delivery start up OX Delivers, introduced electric trucks upcountry, to, among others, glide through dirt roads to deliver harvest from farmers to markets, air-pollution free.

The truck was designed by former Formula One engineer Gordon Murray in 2016, and according to CNN, commissioned by a non-profit called the Global Vehicle Trust, in search of a vehicle that could help provide essential deliveries in developing countries.

It is against this background that Michelle DeFreese, a senior officer at the Global Green Growth Institute, in charge of sustainable mobility, believes there is a lot of potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector.

"The combination of transitioning to electric vehicles while also investing heavily in renewable and clean energy resources is a powerful combination when it comes to reducing emissions,” she observed, adding that the impact on air quality is also an attractive benefit.

According to DeFreese, there are issues with setting up a reliable and convenient network of charging stations and also plans for the safe processing of batteries at the end of life.

"Also, with more countries banning ICE vehicles, there is the concern of a lot of these substandard models being exported to Africa, unless standards are put in place that will prevent it,” she asserted.

Steady growth

Like DeFreese, Joshua Nshuti, innovations and Business Development Manager at Victoria Motors Rwanda, thinks there has been a steady growth on market ever since the incentives were put in place.

"At inception we anticipated a slow but steady growth of the electric mobility market in Rwanda. We have however been surprised by the uptake of our E-Mobility transport solutions particularly after the passing of the government incentives late last year. These in a way have made the vehicles more affordable to the Rwandan market,” he said.

Despite energy transition being costly in a terrain city like Kigali, Nshuti says that it is critical for the population to understand how E-mobility is valuable to them as individuals, but also to the environment as emission control.

Also to understand is the fact that the total cost of an electric vehicle is much lower than that of an internal combustion engine vehicle.

"It’s not enough to make a decision to acquire a brand-new vehicle based purely on initial cost but rather the initial cost coupled with maintenance and operational costs over a period of the life. Once this approach is taken into consideration, Electric vehicles always prove better value for money before even considering the comfort, safety features and modern driving experience they offer,” he added.

Accessible charging stations

In a bid to address the range anxiety and inconvenience of charging, more than 200 domestic chargers in office premises and at residential premises of customers have acquired the Mitsubishi PHEV Outlanders.

"The Mitsubishi PHEV electric vehicle can be fully charged between 15 and 25 minutes using the fast charger (supplied by ABB) and is capable of "self-charging” on the go and the domestic Chargers take 2-3 hrs Charging a PHEV from empty to full charge. This makes it the most practical electric vehicle in Rwanda,” Nshuti reiterated.

In just less than a year, the fleet has grown to over 130 units on the road, and Nshuti pointed out that in the new vehicle market segment, customers have shared positive feedback and are very ‘interested’ in trying it out.

"The growth of this segment is however very dependent on the economy and as you well know we are recovering from the impact of COVID. That said, we see an uptake in the corporate customer segment which is very sensitive to the efficiencies and environment impact our E-Mobility solutions bring.”