Why Kenya has the potential to be Africa’s EV powerhouse
Rest of World
We're a global nonprofit publication covering the impact of technology beyond the Western bubble. And we're hiring!
Jit Bhattacharya , co-founder of BasiGo , discusses the challenges and opportunities of building an EV company in Kenya.
Jit Bhattacharya is the co-founder and CEO of BasiGo, a Nairobi-based electric bus startup. The company has raised over $22 million from investors like British International Investment and Toyota. It acquires its buses from Chinese manufacturers like BYD.
The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Why is it important to build an EV company in Kenya?
In the last two years, Kenya has seen a rapid rise in fuel prices because the country imports 100% of its consumption, spending about $500 million monthly to import. But 90% of our electricity is coming from geothermal energy, which is clean. There’s a huge surplus of renewable energy at night between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. because Kenya doesn’t have enough industrial activity. And so there’s this huge surplus of geothermal energy and wind energy just going to waste. What that means is, if you deploy an electric bus here in Nairobi in place of one of the diesel matatus [privately owned minibuses], you can charge it overnight.??
领英推荐
How’s the Kenyan government helping BasiGo?
Even though there is no official EV policy here in the country yet, the government has passed small policies that have helped significantly. One great example is in 2023, when the government adopted an electricity tariff that gives us a very low cost of electricity for charging our vehicles. The government also passed a VAT exemption last year. But we need the policies to be stable.
What are the major roadblocks to EV adoption?
The number one biggest challenge for us right now is overwhelming demand. We have 500 customers who have deposited with us and are waiting for their buses. Here in Kenya, we’re limited in how quickly we can produce because it’s a brand-new manufacturing. The second challenge is we need to unlock large amounts of capital because we buy these assets upfront and then lease them. Our buses are double or triple the prices of diesel buses, so we have to raise the capital to do that.