Gov't launches National E-Mobility Policy to cut fuel imports, unveils green number plates

The policy aims to, among other things, improve the development of a comprehensive regulatory framework for electric mobility and promote local assembly and manufacturing of electric vehicles.

This comes as the country seeks to cut emissions and reduce its heavy reliance on imported fuel. Jimmy Mbogoh has more on the implementation of a policy that has been two years in the making.

The introduction of a national e-mobility policy aims to build local technical capacity and scale up social and economic benefits across the value chain.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the policy will be implemented through the establishment of a steering committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport, with representation from the Energy Ministry, county governments and development partners. This, the government hopes, will help boost the sector’s growth and cut down the need for imported fuel.

“An import bill of Ksh.5.6 billion annually for petroleum, which we can replace and use our own geothermal instead of wasting away geothermal at night or wind at night when we are asleep. We can be using that power to charge our vehicles, and therefore it makes a lot of sense for our economic development if we basically adopt EVs and run with it,” said Roads and Transport CS Davis Chirchir.

Transport PS Mohamed Dagar added, “We are doing this intentionally so that other countries can come and benchmark with us. Our vision is to be a leader in e-mobility transition, not just in this country but in Africa, and how we want to do this is to create a path of putting up a sustainable and equitable transportation system powered by e-mobility.”

Players in the e-mobility space have called on the government to fast-track the implementation process.

“From an investment perspective, EVs across the value chain have contributed to more than 300 million in investment in the country, and with this launch w,e see a significant increase in investment. This gives confidence to investors to keep on investing in the country,” said Hezbon Mose, President, Electric Mobility Association of Kenya.

With the policy framework now in place, the Ministry of Transport says if it manages to bring down the cost of locally assembled EVs, it will review downwards the number of years for imported vehicles.

“Why would we want to be bringing in six or seven-year-old vehicles which have already started smoking and that have been retired in one economy into our country when the cost of EVs is coming down? So we’ll work on that together within the various technical working groups,” added CS Chirchir.

To distinguish electric cars on the road, the CS has further unveiled green license plates to be used by electric cars, in a bid to boost public awareness of e-mobility and encourage more motorists to switch from fuel-powered cars.

CS Chirchir urged owners of electric vehicles to replace their number plates progressively, stating, “You know number plates are only 3,000 shillings. There's the cost of production; the materials are not available for producing number plates. You'll appreciate spending money. So we'll ask those of us who are on EV vehicles to progressively move to green number plates; it will only cost you 3,000, and we'll endeavour to accelerate the replacement.”