An Excerpt.

The government of Ethiopia provided tax breaks for importation and local assembly of Electric Vehicles, EVs, while at the same time declining LC for diesel-based automobiles. Now, the general market view is an increase of EVs in towns.

Apart from the dwindling access to forex, the issue of Charging Infrastructure/Stations for EVs popes up among importers, buyers and government counterparts.

This is eepBp’s perspective how best and smooth the deployment of EVs can be accelerated in Ethiopia.

Introduction of Rolling Policy Framework

In line with the ambition of the Government of Ethiopia, the policy, legal and regulatory frameworks need to be in place to ensure investment in the sector. Regulatory certainty and scale are going to be the real benefits to the growth of the market. Given the pace of the growth of the technology, the policy environment should not be static to respond to the changes accordingly. As of now, there is nothing practical in place except a desire and hype from all stakeholders. Here, development partners can support.

Standardization of Infrastructure & Systems

As the market evolves towards maturity, there will be a lot of cost to be paid. The best available option to minimize the unwanted cost is to standardize the EV import, infrastructure, management and payment systems. A single charging station need to be able to charge all vehicles and users need to be able to pay with a single payment card, similar to the ATM cards (EthSwitch) in the market. Incentives can be put in place to encourage for more standardized equipment and systems.  

Over time, the charging infrastructure will be distributed and there will be a need for charging infrastructure and payment systems operators. Battery swapping and three wheelers will likely be in the market more so in the rural setting. The governance, licensing and market rules need to be considered as a package, not as fragmented as it looks now.                                                                       

Clarity On Business Models

The government, regulator, electric utility, charging infrastructure operators, infrastructure owners, dealers and users are all going to be key stakeholders in the EV business. Outlining a clear boundary of responsibility and operating rules encourages investment and helps the country achieve the intended objective over the long term. It is cloudy as of now.

Knowledge Management and Communication

New initiatives almost always call for spreading the new knowledge and best practices to inform the wider public. Easily adoption and realization of a maximum impact can be achieved through effective communication across society. It is possible to build a centralized and accessible digital platform that can be used as reference in users’ decision making.

Electric batteries are significant components of EVs. Informed users save a lot of money first for themselves and then for the country at large. How best the rural population can better be reached and served need also be the foresight.

Developing Maintenance and Disposal Schemes

To maximize the value for money of EVs, maintenance of EVs and the charging infrastructure including the utility side is crucial. The hardware and software components demand active maintenance and upgrading to ensure effective service delivery and control risks (security) in the whole system. What is even more fundamental is the disposal of components after their useful life period to safeguard society’s health and wellbeing.

Future Orientation-Hydrogen & Hybrid Developments

Although EVs look important now, we should not be excessively over consumed with it. It is important to watch out future developments such as green hydrogen to ensure that the infrastructure built is not locked out for future integrations.

That way adoption would be faster and less costly.

 … End!

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