Africa's electric car sales hit 11,000

From the newsletter

Electric car sales in Africa more than doubled to reach nearly 11,000 in 2024, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). This is only 0.06% of the 17 million electric cars sold globally. Sales shares also remained under 1%, though there was growth in several countries, such as Morocco and Egypt, where new electric car sales topped 2,000.    

• The report highlights a huge imbalance in electric car sales in Africa. Most of the sales were made in a handful of countries such as South Africa, Morocco and Egypt while others contributed only a few units. 

• Despite this, there is cause for optimism as some countries such as Ethiopia and Rwanda are making drastic policy changes such as import bans and restrictions on fuel cars which will hasten electric car sales. 

More details

• According to the report, Africa has one of the fastest EV growth rates in the world, with the number of electric cars growing from less than 5,000 in 2023. Globally, following another year of robust growth, electric car sales are on track to surpass 20 million in 2025, accounting for over a quarter of cars sold worldwide, said the report.

• The increase in sales will be driven by a decline in the prices. Prices of major components such as battery packs are expected to reduce further, exerting downward pressure on car costs. In 2024, battery pack prices fell in all markets, but the extent of the drop varied significantly. The fastest declines were seen in China, where prices fell nearly 30% in 2024, compared to 10-15% in Europe and the US.

• Besides electric cars, sales of electric two-wheelers in Africa grew nearly 40% year-on-year to reach 9,000 vehicles, but it marks only a slim 0.5% sales share in the continent’s total two-wheeler sales. However, domestic OEMs have invested significantly in recent years to set up domestic manufacturing facilities, said the report.

• For example, Spiro is set to break ground on an assembly plant in Nigeria in 2025 with an expected annual output of 100,000 electric two-wheelers, 100 times the capacity of its assembly plants in Togo and Benin. Other electric two-wheeler manufacturers, such as Roam in Kenya and Ampersand in Rwanda, also recently announced investments to ramp up their capacity across African countries.

• According to IEA, Africa has some positive policy developments that could further turbocharge the adoption of EVs. It cited Ethiopia’s 2024 ban on imports of petrol and diesel cars introduced as having resulted in a major increase in EV sales. However, while model availability appears to be reasonable in the country, there are reports that garages struggle to source components for repairs, and that deployment of chargers outside of the capital Addis Ababa has not kept pace with electric car sales, it said.

• In Morocco and Egypt, efforts by car manufacturers to expand their production lines for batteries and electric cars in order to facilitate exports to the European Union have also pushed up domestic deployment, with the sales share reaching just under 2%. Intra-Africa collaboration is also developing, with Nigeria now looking into strengthening its EV manufacturing capacity with support from Morocco. 

Our take

• The drop in battery pack prices and other components in China, Europe and the US will drive down EV prices globally. But this will take time to filter down to Africa, which relies on imports from these countries and regions. 

• Domestic OEMs like Spiro in Nigeria, Roam in Kenya, and Ampersand in Rwanda are scaling up electric two-wheeler production, responding to increasing demand. This suggests that smaller EVs could lead Africa’s transition, particularly in urban mobility.

• The pro-EV policies being implemented by a number of African countries could act as catalysts for regional adoption, but challenges in charging infrastructure and spare parts supply needs urgent attention.