Government agencies in Ethiopia are spearheading the country's transition to electric vehicles by replacing their existing combustion-engined fleets with EVs, citing cost savings and policy priorities.
The state-owned Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) this week said it spent over 223 million birr (2.1 million dollars) to acquire five electric buses, six mid-sized buses and two minibuses from local assembler Belayneh Kende Group. The zero-emission fleet will ferry over 5,000 employees around its headquarters in the capital Addis Ababa.
The procurement is the latest among several Ethiopian government departments and public entities switching to EVs in support of a nationwide mobilization to electrify transport.
EEP is currently spending over 1 million birr per month on vehicle rentals and 1.6 million birr on fuel and maintenance for the existing fleet.
"The adoption of electric vehicles is expected to significantly reduce these operational costs," said Kelil Shifa, Chief Head of Procurement Administration at EEP.
Ethiopia's Transport and Logistics Ministry on April 10, 2024 brought 30 electric buses into service in Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa plans to purchase 100 electric buses early next year.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's administration has implemented incentives like tax exemptions and import duty cuts to catalyze consumer adoption.
Ethiopia this year announced it had exceeded its original target of importing 100,000 EVs, prompting authorities to raise the 2030 goal to 500,000 vehicles - nearly 10 percent of the total forecasted fleet size in the East African nation of over 126 million people.
