Why you could soon be charging your EV for free

May 15, 2025

The number of free public charging stations in Africa is increasing, and this could accelerate the popularity of electric vehicles. There are at least 64 free electric charging stations in South Africa, an increase of 36% from 47 in September 2024. Morocco has eight Tesla superchargers, which are free, while Kenya has at least two free public fast chargers.

  • Free chargers are most commonly found at vehicle dealerships, hotels, restaurants, offices, shopping malls, and universities. They can encourage users to spend time and money while using other services near the charger or act as a value-add to improve the overall visitor experience. 

  • In the long term, free chargers could become as common as free public wi-fi. As EV ownership grows, it is likely that business and social establishments that have free chargers will attract visitors, forcing competitors to follow suit. 

  • Our take: Providing EV charging as a complimentary service could benefit service providers through increased traffic to their premises… Read more (2 min)

Consumer prices in Africa’s electric mobility sector have increased by 1.6% in the past month as measured by the change in prices in a representative basket of products. They include electric motorcycle and electric car prices, consumer financing costs and fees for powering options. Prices are collected by our data analysts in East, West, North and southern Africa. 

  • The rise of the Mobility Rising price index to 1,016 was mainly driven by an increase in the cost of charging electric motorcycles and cars, which went up by 3.3% in Kenya and 5.71% in South Africa during April.

  • The cost of EVs rose by 1.3% in South Africa, where the cost of loans also went up by 1.4%. In Kenya, the increase was marginal, with the price of EVs and loans increasing by only 0.09% each.

  • Our take: The increase of the index highlights difficulties for EV owners on the continent — now paying more to own and operate their vehicles… Read more (2 min)

Here are the companies hiring this week

Mobility companies advertised 21 vacancies this week. Ethiopian electric motorcycle startup Dodai accounted for eight of the 13 roles open in East Africa, the company’s most aggressive recruitment drive this year. Dodai secured $7 million in funding in 2024 and is expanding operations by adding a new manufacturing facility. 

  • East Africa has consecutively dominated the hiring spree. Last week, M-Kopa led with 30 vacancies, while in the first week of April, Advanced Mobility Africa posted 28 roles. This reflects balanced recruitment across EV training, financing, and manufacturing in the region. 

  • East Africa offers diverse roles in manufacturing and business analysis, North Africa focuses on senior engineering and procurement, while West Africa prioritises battery management and software engineering.

  • To explore all current vacancies, click here (2 min)

Martin Oluoch (On the left), Roam’s Operational Manager, during a past event in South Africa

Events

📅 Plan for Africa in Transition Conference happening in Belgium (May 20)

📅 Register for Building Africa’s EV Ecosystem webinar (May 29)

📅 Sign up for an EV webinar hosted by Africa E-Mobility Week (May 29)

Various

📦 Jumia introduces logistics business in Nigeria

⚖️ Ethiopia is pushing favourable policies to promote local EV production

🔌 Tesla team visits Rubicon offices in South Africa

Seen on LinkedIn 

Dr Olumuyiwa Akinrole Oludayo, Head of Human Resources at Zeno, says, “If we continue to bring the stakeholders together to have a conversation and commit to action, we can change the mobility experience of Nigerians.”