Ghana eyes local electric car assembly

From the newsletter

Ghana has opened its first ever electric car assembly plant. Hong Kong-based SynonergyEV is set to commence electric car assembly in the West African country in partnership with FDZ Ghana Trading, a local company. The EV company plans to make low-cost electric cars for the domestic and regional markets and roll out charging infrastructure in the country. 

• Ghana becomes the eighth African country with an electric car assembly project. The others are Egypt, Botswana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. Full-scale manufacturing is ongoing in Morocco.   

• Local assembly of electric cars in Africa has drawn mixed reactions from experts. While it has the capacity to create jobs, electric cars made in Africa are costlier than imports, making such ventures unviable. 

More details

• Ghana has an estimated 17,000 EVs, making it one of Africa’s largest EV markets. However, the majority of these are two-wheelers and three-wheelers, which are popular in major towns where they are used for short and medium distance trips.

• Demand for EVs is growing fast. While the majority of the EVs sold in the West African country are imported, a local assembly industry is gradually emerging. Companies like SolarTaxi and Wahu Mobility are leading the way by assembling low-cost, locally suited electric two- and four-wheelers. 

• For example, Wahu Mobility opened Ghana's first EV assembly plant in February 2024, with capacity for 2,000 bikes per month. Zonda Tec Ghana Limited is also developing a state-of-the-art EV assembly plant, and GAC is considering Ghana as a hub for West Africa's EV assembly. 

• The Ghanaian government has put in place a policy framework aimed at significantly increasing EV penetration to 35% by 2035 and eventually phasing out ICE vehicle imports. However, the market is still nascent in many respects: infrastructure is under-developed, costs are high, and many regulatory pieces are still being worked out. Despite these issues, if implementation proceeds well, Ghana could see accelerating EV adoption over the next decade.

• While demand for EVs in Africa is growing fast – sales more than doubled to 11,000 in 2024 - imports will continue to form the bulk of EV supply on the continent for years to come. Major Chinese manufacturers such as BYD, Xpeng, Nio, Zeekr, Chery and Geely are increasingly turning their attention to foreign markets, including Africa, to sell their vehicles as the local market in China becomes saturated.

• This means that locally-made electric cars could struggle to compete. In Egypt for example, the government has introduced a massive subsidy programme to prop up its local EV assembly company. With the majority of African countries heaving under heavy debt, not many can afford to subsidise EV production and consumption. 

Our take

• While Ghana's government has a clear vision for EV adoption by 2035, the success of local assembly plants will hinge on the implementation of supportive policies. Without government subsidies or tax breaks, locally-assembled EVs will struggle to compete on price with imported Chinese vehicles.  

• The entry of SynonergyEV and the expansion of Wahu Mobility and others signal a growing domestic EV assembly industry. However, this will be in direct competition with major Chinese brands like BYD, Chery, and Geely, which are actively expanding into Africa to offset saturation in their home market. 

• For the new assembly plants to succeed and for EV adoption to accelerate, there needs to be a rapid build-out of a reliable charging network. The government's plan to roll out charging infrastructure in partnership with private companies like SynonergyEV will be crucial.