Summary
- Chery Invests $20 Million in local manufacturer, Afrigreen Automobile.
- The investment will be used to set up an assembly plant in Nairobi that will create 3,000 direct and indirect jobs.
- The plant will be able to manufacture up to 6,000 EVs in a year.
Kenya’s EV sector is set for growth following the $20 million investment into local manufacturer, Afrigreen Automobile, by Chinese EV manufacturer, Chery. Acording to Afrigreen Automobile, the funding will be used to set up an assembly plant in nairobi that will create over 3,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Afrigreen Automobile is optimistic this deal will accelerate the adoption of Evs in Kenya as well as generate employment opportunities. Chery on its part said kenya’s skilled workforce and its strategic position as an economic hub as key factors in their decision to invest. According to Afrgreen, one of the first cars that it will assemble is the Chery Omoda E5.
Commenting on this, Nishant Mishra, the global head of Future Mobility at Afrigreen Automobile said, “We are planning to start the assembly within one month’s time. We are looking at assembling about 5,000 to 6,000 vehicles every year for the next couple of years as we look for the market, both in Kenya and the COMESA region.” According to Afrgreen, one of the first cars that it will assemble is the Chery Omoda E5.
Kenya has seen significant investment in the EV sector recently. Another Chinese EV, NETA, invested in Moja EV which plans to assemble about 250 Evs monthly.
Present during the signing of the deal was Principal Secretary Abubakar Hassan Abubakar from the Ministry of Investments, Trade, and Industry. He said, “the assembly plant will help the transport sector become greener, as we currently have about 4,000 e-vehicles against a population of about 1.7 million cars on the roads,” said Abubakar.
Back in April, Kenya launched the First Draft Electric Mobility Policy to guide the transition to Evs. The policy has a number of objectives including the development of a comprehensive framework to promote e-mobility adoption, local manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (EVs), enhancing infrastructural capacity, and improving technical skills in the e-mobility sector.
Kenya Power also recently announced plans to invest ksh 258 million over the next 3 years to accelerate adoption of electric mobility in Kenya. If the infrastructure is in place, we may see a rise in adoption of Evs in the coming years.
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