Africa only has a few ten thousand electric vehicles rolling on tarmac so far and less than a thousand charging stations. 

• But that has not deterred EV manufacturers from setting up locally. 

• Production plants are already in or coming to 21 countries on the continent. 

Why it matters: Africa’s green economy must offer prosperity to local people as much as climate relief for the planet. 

• Without green jobs such as in local manufacturing, popular support for costly new green infrastructure will be limited. 

The granddad: South Africa has long been a manufacturing site for fuel cars on the continent, making more than 500,000 a year, employing 100,000 people and contributing 5% to GDP.

• It is now pivoting away from internal-combustion engines to a greener variety.

• Ford invested $281 million in a hybrid vehicle facility to make 44,000 cars from this year. 

• Stellantis put $158 million into an electric Jeep plant starting this month. 

New entrant: Nigeria has been mostly absent from the global vehicle industry despite the size of its market. That is changing. 

• Innoson, a local champion, plans to set up an EV manufacturing plant in Nigeria.

• The company said, “It doesn’t make sense to import batteries and major components.”

• The Nigerian government also mooted an EV production deal with partners in Korea.

Supply chain: Beyond manufacturing vehicles, operators are also aiming to make parts onshore in Africa. 

• A Chinese company is spending $1.3 billion on an EV gigafactory in Morocco.

• Botswana’s Giyani is investing $26 million in producing EV batteries.

Zoom out: Critics suggest Africa is not engaged in “real” manufacturing but mostly “assembly”. 

• The critics misunderstand how modern manufacturing works.

• Nobody builds from scratch. All production is a form of (more or less) assembly. 

First step: Some assembly means low-skill labour fitting together a few parts of a standard kit. 

• The immediate value-add is small. But this is a stepping stone to full manufacturing. 

• The difference between the steps is often fluid. It’s a progression on a value curve.

• One leads to the next. Once demand is proven, assembly can be upgraded.

Explosive growth: Assembly has popped up all over the continent in the past year.

• Roam created an East African assembly plant for 50,000 e-motorbikes annually.

• Spiro plans to assemble 1,000 e-bikes daily in Togo and Benin later this year.

• Siltech and Orbit are two West African competitors, sourcing up to 80% of parts locally. 

The big five: It’s not only motorbikes but also buses, cars, lorries and bicycles.

• BasiGo unveiled an e-bus assembled in Kenya, the fist of a thousand by 2027. 

• Kiira Motors is set up for assembling 20 buses per day in Uganda. 

• Ethiopia inaugurated its biggest electric car & lorry plant in Debre Berhan this month.

Business levers: The size of assembly projects is growing and consumer prices are tumbling. 

• Egyptian investors partnered with FAW, the Shanghai auto giant, to assemble and then manufacture the Bestune E05, among the world’s most affordable electric cars ($17,500).

Undisputed champion: None of this compares to Morocco. It has become a fully fledged manufacturer, overtaking South Africa. 

• With 220,000 jobs, its auto industry accounts for 22% of GDP and $14 billion in exports.

• Infrastructure investments and proximity to Spain allowed it to overtake car exports to Europe from China, India or Japan. 

• “We didn’t export one car 15 years ago,” said Ryad Mezzour, the industry minister.

• By 2030, he aims for 60% of the annual vehicle production capacity of currently 700,000 cars to be electric. 

Industrial policy: Can other African nations follow this path to industrialisation? 

• Most answers focus on investment, infrastructure & policy frameworks. 

• They’re all vital – and tricky. But an even higher hurdle looms.

Free trade: Most national markets are too small to manufacture only for themselves. Vehicles plants need to export to neighbours to be viable. 

• But that requires open African borders and collaborative industrial policies. 

• If every country tries to get to the head of the queue, none will. 

• Europe has struggled with similar problems for decades.

• Too many national champions could stall the entire mobility transition. 

Good news: How this can work well was shown by Tanzania this year. Its capital Dar es Salam may order electric buses assembled in Uganda for rapid transit.