Major East African cities such as Kampala, Nairobi and Kigali have introduced a combined fleet of 47 e-buses as they seek to decarbonise, cut costs and improve air quality, but the shift has been met with fiscal and technical challenges.
The slow shift to e-buses, according to a report made public recently, which evaluates the state of electric bus adoption in 10 African countries, is down to policy gaps that need to be addressed.
The Africa E-Mobility Alliance (AfEMA) published the report titled Building Visibility on Electric Bus Initiatives in Africa Accelerating Sustainable Mass Transport. Its body of work surveyed Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda.
As a result of these gaps, Uganda, which seeks to have in place a 20 percent e-buses fleet by next year, lags behind its regional peers. Empirical evidence shows that Uganda has only four e-buses operating in the mass public transport system. Kenya, which intends to have five percent of all registered vehicles to be electric by 2025, has only 24 e-buses, with the vast bulk deployed mostly in Nairobi, the capital.
Rwanda, which set itself a target of converting 25 percent of mini and microbuses to electric power by 2030,reported 19 e-buses.
In the two-wheeler industry, Kigali has gone ahead to ban petrol-powered motorcycles, starting with stopping their registration by January next year.
“Infrastructure plays a significant role in e-bus adoption, and this requires support from both ends of the spectrum, that is, both public and private sectors, pointing to a need for more public-private partnership," the researchers propose.
Mixed fortunes
The few electric buses operating in the public transport space sends signals that Uganda is unlikely to meet the targets it set of growing the electric buses fleet, especially in cities which continue contending with an inefficient public transport system.
Information from the Ministry of Science and Technology describes the current public transport vehicles as those at the end-of-life with an average age of 16 years at first registration.
It adds that these vehicles are contributing to 25percent global carbon emission.
Consequently, Uganda’s wish is to fully transition to e-mobility in public transport and motorcycles by 2030 and passenger vehicle sales by 2040.
“Uganda’s heavy reliance on imported obsolete petrol and diesel engine powered vehicles is not only a huge drain to the economy, but poses significant risk to our socioeconomic transformation,
public health, and the environment, with Kampala being ranked the second most polluted city in Africa,” Ms Monica Musenero, Uganda’s Science and Technology minister, notes in the National E-mobility Strategy. Without cheap funding options, e-bus maker Kiira Motors Corporation is struggling to attract buyers of their units. Information this publication has obtained indicates that only five e-buses have been sold to public transport operator Tondeka bus services, operating in Kampala. Uganda has over the years carved out a reputation for investing rather generously in e-bus making. The country has, unlike neighbours Rwanda and Kenya, failed to attract private investors in the bid to grow her e-bus fleet.
Tax regime
Key to fashioning the failure is an uncertain tax policy which, despite being revised annually, discourages private investments in the e-vehicle space. Ms Jackie Bazimudde, a member of Uganda Electric Mobility Association, told Saturday Monitor :
“Investors need predictable tax policies to make investments, which should range from three to four years as opposed to changes introduced annually.”
In the Financial Year 2023/2024, electric cars in Uganda benefited from 25percent import duty exemption. The payment levied on the import of goods was however reintroduced this year.
State actors said this was purely informed by the desire to put wind in the sails of Kiira Motors. Put another way, the intention is to boost local production.
The reintroduction of the duty has forced some companies like Motorcare, the biggest importer of electric passenger vehicles, to slow down.
Elsewhere, car charging infrastructure providers have reduced their planned deployment as a result of this policy instability. Little wonder, observers say, Uganda has only 83 registered fully electric cars. This works to about less than0.02 percent of the country’s fleet, and nearly half have been sold by Motorcare.
Comparatively, data from the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) indicates that Rwanda with a predictable regime reports a total of 512. Rwanda imports the buses from China, the survey points
out, as the country has limited domestic assembly capabilities. However, there is strong interest in increased local production. The government provides free Internet while on e-buses. Kigali has also remained aggressive, selling the advantages of e-mobility, both for buses and other EV options The authorities in Kigali have announced they will stop registering petrol powered motorcycles for public transport in the capital in January 2025, limiting registration to electric motorcycles only. This is part of the government’s shift toward sustainable mobility.
Public awareness
An educational gap, however, remains, with many users and potential proponents unaware of the cost and benefit of going electric.
Local governments and transport authorities have consequently been tasked with the duty of enhancing public understanding on the subject.
“Rwanda walks the talk,” Mr John Vianney Kalisa, a coordinator of the Civil Society Coalition on Transport (Ciscot) in Uganda, told this publication.
He added: “Uganda has good policies, but is poor at implementation.”
Elsewhere, Kenya is pushing for at least fi ve percent of all registered vehicles to be electric by 2025. Data contained in a state of electric bus (e-bus) adoption in Africa report published last month, however, shows the country has a paltry fleet of e-buses deployed in mass public transport mostly in Nairobi
The prices, according to the state of e-buses report range from $155,000 (Shs. 567m) to $201,506 (Shs. 735m).Observers say this is prohibitively high. The internal combustion bus, for example, ranges from $23,250 (Shs. 85m) to $38,750 (Shs141m).
“Kenya is emerging as a front-runner. in East Africa, with active policy support and several ongoing projects, including an innovative financing scheme targeting private sector buses,” the survey reveals.
The government’s desire to move towards e-buses and EVs, more broadly, plusthe established Kenyan e-bus manufacturers and assemblers, means the country is well-positioned to accelerate
the electrification of the bus sector. Kenya, however, has not standardised the charging infrastructure. Concentrating
the same in the capital of Nairobi limits the opportunity to expand e-bus access.Two private e-bus makers BasiGo and Roam have taken positions in Kenya.
“A policy gap exists in a key area,” the survey notes, adding: “Our surveys show that the public is often uncertain about EV buses, if not outright sceptical. Government policy designed to resolve this currently needs to be improved. Kenya has launched a programme, for instance, seeking to make electric vehicles more appealing, and Uganda’s comprehensive e-mobility strategy reframes vehicle electrification as a great opportunity for the entire nation.”
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Response
As a country, Uganda's policies leap frog the shift envisioned in the e-vehicle national policy. Ms Irene Namuyiga, a road safety engineer and transport planner at Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), said the policies need to trigger fast adoption of electric vehicles as they are not incentivised enough.
“It’s not only the buses that are expensive but also electric cars. The policies around fuel-based vehicles make it remain attractive to own the fuel-based vehicles", she told this publication, advising that authorities also have to come up with tightening regulatory measures to discourage fuel-powered engines and push the formalisation of public transport operations in Uganda's capital to attract investment in the electric bus fleet.
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