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Africa’s largest geothermal power hub gets an EV factory

September 30, 2025

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United Arab Emirates-based investment company Aquilastor has broken ground on an EV production plant in Kenya. It is located at the Olkaria geothermal hub, about 90 km northwest of the capital Nairobi. It will produce both EVs and hybrids and will have a capacity of 50,000 units annually once completed. The company will invest $150 million in the project. 

  • The investment by Aquilastor will significantly increase Kenya’s maximum EV production capacity which currently stands at about 140,000 units per year. More than 80% of this capacity is for production of electric motorcycles.   

  • The majority of the investments in Africa’s EV sector has been in assembly in main markets. Only South Africa and Morocco manufacture for export.  

  • Our take: Tighter local content requirements may be needed if local assembly is to create more value on the continent… Read more (2 min)

The conversation around EVs often focuses on batteries, supply chains and charging infrastructure, but the real revolution in Africa is financial, says MAX’s CEO Adetayo Bamiduro. Most motorcycle taxi riders don’t own their vehicles, instead working under a “rent-and-remit” system that consumes most of their earnings and locks them out of asset ownership.

  • Mr Bamiduro has served as CEO of MAX since its launch in 2015, raising over $60 million and expanding its native Nigeria. He is focused on delivering mobility solutions through electric motorcycles and tricycles.

  • Globally, auto loans and asset financing have long been mobility drivers, yet in Africa, riders face a lack of collateral, limited credit history, and little interaction with formal banks, says Mr Bamiduro. 

  • Click here to read the full opinion… (3 min)

The amount of electricity used by electric vehicles in Kenya has grown four times in one year, highlighting the accelerating uptake of clean mobility in the East African country. Kenya’s energy regulator has revealed that EVs used 5.03 GWh in the financial year ending June 2025. This is four times the 1.26 GWh that EVs used in the preceding year amid increasing EV sales.  

  • In June, Kenya had 6,442 registered EVs, up from 5,294 in December 2024. 

  • Rare among its peers, Kenya has a dedicated EV tariff since April 2023. As of June, it is used by 69 customers, mainly EV companies. 

  • Our take: The majority of EV charging happens at home, and the absence of smart metres in Kenya means this consumption is left out of the data… Read more (2 min)

EEP Africa team visits Drivelectric premises in Kenya 

Events

🗓️  Attend EV defensive driving class in Rwanda (Oct 4)

🗓️ Book your slot at Auto Tech Expo in Egypt (Oct 24)

🗓️ Register for Kenya’s National Public Transport Summit (Nov 26)

Jobs

👩🏻‍💻 Join Solar Taxi as a Software Engineer (Ghana)

📊 Apply for Lead Data Analyst’s role at E-Safiri (Kenya)

👷🏻‍♀️ Become a Junior Project Engineer at Zembo (Uganda)

Various 

⚡ SHOVeBike to build a solar-hybrid charging hub in Soweto

💰 The World Bank team visits Roam park in Kenya

🚗 FAW unveils EV models in Nigeria

Seen on LinkedIn 

Joubert Roux, Co-founder of Charge, says, “Micro grids powering our mobility and logistics with renewable energy is practical, affordable and the logical revolution in energy.”