Quiet is essential in the savannah: the zebras are frightened by noise, the elephants disappear. And safari drives often lead to the opposite, to hectic and noisy game parks: just think of last year’s video of 15 jeeps chasing a group of wildebeest and zebra in Kenya’s Masai Mara Game Reserve. . But perhaps there is a more respectful future for the African tourism industry.
In the Masai Mara, some tourist lodges have started using fleets of electric safari vehicles. One of them is the Emboo River Camp. William Ole Santian, one of the co-founders, says its international guests are drawn to the idea of a “serene safari”. And he believes the move from diesel-powered Land Cruisers to electric safari vehicles has also helped the company. “We made this decision not only because we wanted to revolutionize the safari experience, but because we wanted to protect the environment. However, the decision came in handy during the pandemic when fuel was scarce and many camps could not access it due to lockdowns and restrictions on movement in Kenya,” he says. It takes mechanics between 10 and 14 days to convert the old diesel cars, replace the engines with electric motors and install a battery management system (which takes about eight hours to charge these cars). The total cost: almost 28,000 euros, an investment that will pay for itself in two to three years, says the owner of the accommodation.
The electric car industry is just taking its first steps in Africa. South Africa, which has the most advanced electric mobility market on the continent, had around 1,000 electric vehicles out of a total fleet of 12 million cars in 2022, according to the government, although the goal is to reach 2.9 million in 2050. The number of electric vehicles in Kenya is minimal: about 350, compared to the total number of vehicles registered in the country of about 2.2 million, but the government’s goal is for electric vehicles to account for 5% of all car imports by 2025. To this end, the company has announced plans to halve import tariffs on electric vehicles from 20% to 10%. Other countries on the continent are following the same path: Ghana, Rwanda, the Seychelles and Mauritius have also reduced or abolished import duties.
Charging an electric car.Zeynab Mohammed
Roam Motors, a Nairobi-based electric mobility company, has converted electric safari vehicles for 15 camps in Kenya and is piloting a 51-seater electric bus. “The future of public transport lies in electric vehicles. The untapped potential is huge and could create a much more sustainable industry where, for example, an operator earns twice what it used to earn in one day,” says Lumbi Muchui, engineer at Roam Motors.
One of the challenges for the EV sector to take off is having enough charging points. In 2021, Kenya’s public utility company announced a project to install electric vehicle charging stations along major highways and shopping malls across the country. The power distributor joins Kenya’s power generation company KenGen, which has also announced plans to invest in the power grid in a bid to unlock a lucrative new revenue stream.
During the COP 26 in Glasgow, Kenya, along with 30 other countries, committed to standardizing zero-emission vehicles and ensuring they are accessible, affordable and sustainable by 2030 in market-leading countries and by 2040 in the world’s leading countries. First, it will be time to overcome infrastructure scarcity and high electric car prices. On average, a non-electric car costs around $2,900 in Kenya compared to $37,000 for an electric car.
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