Chinese EV chargers hit an Egyptian road block

May 20, 2025

The Egyptian government has discontinued electricity supply to Chinese-standard EV fast charging stations as the country shifts to European fast chargers. This will leave around 80% of Egyptian EV users to search for alternative ways to charge. Four-fifths of all EVs in Egypt come from China and much of the EV infrastructure is built to cater to them. 

  • South Africa and Egypt are the only countries so far to set specific standards for EV chargers on the continent. This could prompt others to do the same for uniformity.

  • The choice of a charging standard is key as it could determine where a country will be buying its EVs from. Egypt’s choice of the European standard gives European EV manufacturers an edge in the market.

  • Our take: China continues to widen its dominance in global EV manufacturing, which could force Egypt to reverse its policy stance in future… Read more (2 min)

Africa’s top 10 electric mobility companies increased their workforce by 1,235 over the last 12 months, underlining their rapid growth. An analysis by Mobility Rising shows that the companies now have 2,952 employees to support their operations. US electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla shows a net gain of 833 new employees, accounting for 67% of the increase. 

  • The rapid growth in demand for EVs in Africa is pushing companies to hire new workers to sustain and grow their operations. While hiring is diverse across various functions, most hires work in engineering, sales and operations roles. 

  • Companies are diversifying into new revenue streams such as battery swapping and charging stations, selling AC home chargers, and battery energy storage systems. This diversification is expanding the number of roles needed at these companies. 

  • Our take: The number of jobs being created by electric mobility companies is still small but local assembly and manufacturing have potential to boost job creation… Read more (2 min)

Africa possesses the minerals to lead the global EV battery value chain, yet risks remaining trapped in a resource extraction model unless it builds its own industrial capacity. Edward Moleke Makwana, Auto Writer at Forbes Africa, notes that the continent’s abundance of critical minerals is being undermined by a lack of local processing and manufacturing.

  • The continent can continue exporting raw minerals or leverage the global EV transition to climb the value chain and become a key supplier of battery components. The opportunity lies in building local capacity and attracting global partners to cut the world’s dependence on Asian supply chains. 

  • Weak economic growth has kept domestic demand for these materials low, making industrialisation challenging without decisive government intervention. Case studies from Indonesia and China demonstrate that strategic industrial policies are vital for moving from extraction to value-addition. 

  • Click here to explore the full perspective … (3 min)

Ibrahima Diawara, Founder of Angata, beside one of his EV fleet in Bamako, Mali

Events

🗓️ Register for AIDC EV Summit hosted by South Africa (July 17)

🗓️ Attend E-Mobility and Infrastructure Summit (Nov 26)

🗓️ Plan early for Africa EV Mobility Expo happening in Kenya (Dec 4)

Jobs

👩🏻‍💻 Join Ampersand as a Data Engineer (Rwanda)

👨‍💼 Supervise Ampersand’s charging stations (Kenya)

💰 Become a Sales Account Partner at Eonsfleet (Nigeria)

Various 

🛵 Alpha eMobility to introduce several EV models in Kenya

🔌 Trinity Energy Kenya launches an EV charging station in the outskirts of Nairobi

🌐 WattsC to open Morocco's first full-service EV charging eCommerce store

Seen on LinkedIn 

William Kelly, a South African EV advocate, says, “SA still has punitive import duties on EVs. Morocco now makes more cars than we do, and (is) growing. These are big long-term trends that the government thought they could kick the can down the road with and that road ran out a while back.“