The Narrative over electric vehicles (EV) was recently resurrected in Uganda when President Museveni addressed the country on the high cost of fuel. And for now, at least it seems the government is pursuing that goal of supporting electric vehicles. But, in the absence of authorizing legislation, the intent is to establish charging stations throughout the country.
The government wants to create a National Charging System (NCS) by 2030 and aims to cover at least 25% of the total fleet that is actually electrified. They will have to put in place a number of policy measures including tariffs to ensure that when someone is using electric vehicles for charging, at least the tariff is favorable.
By 2026, the government is looking at having at least 250 electric buses on the road served by at least 75 fast chargers, as well as 300,000 motorcycles. The efforts by Kiira motors corporation to roll out electric buses that are already plowing some routes like Bweyogere to Busega route offering public transport. We already have other companies like zembo and boda works that are in the space of electric bikes, which should enable the government to realize its goal.
However, the issue of regulations around chargers is very important. Once the National Charging System is up and running, it will provide trust, and stability and helps long-term investors, but also long-term users in getting into this space. So it’s also up to these companies to support the government in the process of understanding what kind of EV charging that is needed to support electric mobility in Uganda.
During a recent consultation comprising local and international experts, it emerged that the initial cost of scaling up, the ecosystem will require economy of scale as a single investor may not be able to undertake the huge investment alone. Annually, Uganda imports about 45,000 vehicles and 120,000 motorcycles. Most of these are used vehicles with an average age of 15 years and polluting much more than they have even been designed for.
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