Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema lately returned from a state go to to China. Throughout that go to, he met with BYD and CATL, that are a number of the main gamers globally within the electrical automobile and stationary storage ecosystem. In a submit on X, President Hichilema stated, “We’ve got the pure sources, they’ve the expertise. That is the symbiotic relationship we’re pursuing with firms like BYD and CATL, who’re the most important EV and vitality storage battery producers, to spend money on Zambia.”
![](https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/09/20230919_144157.jpg)
President Hakainde Hichilema with Wang Chuanfu, the founder, chairman, and CEO of BYD
This can be a important growth for Zambia and the remainder of the continent. It’s one other instance that goes to indicate that conversations across the electrical mobility ecosystem at the moment are being held on the highest ranges in additional African nations. Because the transition in the direction of electrical mobility accelerates world wide, African nations shouldn’t be left behind and also needs to be positioning themselves to extract most worth for his or her economies and residents.
Through the years, we’ve got lined a whole lot of the developments taking place within the electrical mobility area in a number of nations on the African continent. Primarily all of those have been pushed purely by the non-public sector by unbiased small firms with some help from some NGOs, some angel investments, progress accelerators, some enterprise capital corporations, and in a whole lot of instances, funded purely by cofounders bootstrapping to get issues achieved. Numerous these corporations have been operating pilot applications at numerous levels and a few at the moment are transitioning to early commercialization levels. However as one well-known particular person stated, prototypes are simple, manufacturing is difficult, and due to this fact all these corporations want all of the help they’ll get.
There at the moment are some trade our bodies which might be attempting to work with key stakeholders, together with governments of their nations, to construct a essential mass, talking with one voice, and lobbying for help for the e-mobility sector. Nonetheless, one of many key enablers of the transition will at all times be important buy-in from the native and nationwide governments. So, it’s actually nice to see President HH of Zambia partaking with a number of the world trade leaders. Hopefully it will translate into some stable tangible outcomes.
Zambia has a number of key minerals which might be a part of the e-mobility provide chain, equivalent to copper, cobalt, and nickel. Hopefully discussions additionally revolved round how a number of the extra reasonably priced EVs coming from BYD’s secure such because the BYD Dolphin, ATTO 3, and Seagull (when the Seagull will get a right-hand drive model) may be provided on the Zambian market within the close to future, to assist improve the variety of all electrical autos provided within the Zambian market, thereby serving to to catalyze the transition. As volumes develop, this might additionally result in a probably large alternative to have a few of these autos assembled in Zambia, unlocking key alternatives alongside the worth chain for native suppliers of some parts. Zambia’s grid is powered by about 90% renewables, largely hydropower, which means electrical autos within the nation could be charging on some very clear electrical energy.
We actually want extra presidents on the African continent to hitch the dialog and actively lead on a few of these initiatives. We see examples from different locations, such because the latest assembly between Elon Musk and President Erdoğan of Turkey. Additionally, simply the opposite day, Elon Musk additionally met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Nearer to dwelling, President William Ruto of Kenya has additionally been actively selling electrical mobility. On the latest Africa Local weather Summit in Nairobi, President Ruto switched his complete motorcade to an all-electric one, together with electrical bikes and vehicles in the course of the Summit. I might be following all of this motion intently to see if extra leaders on the African continent additionally begin to actively promote electrical mobility.
Photos courtesy of the Workplace of the President of Zambia
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