Zambia’s President Met With BYD & CATL On A Recent State Visit To China

Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema lately returned from a state go to to China. Throughout that go to, he met with BYD and CATL, that are among the main gamers globally within the electrical car and stationary storage ecosystem. In a post on X, President Hichilema mentioned, “We’ve got the pure sources, they’ve the expertise. That is the symbiotic relationship we’re pursuing with corporations like BYD and CATL, who’re the biggest EV and power storage battery producers, to spend money on Zambia.”

President Hakainde Hichilema with Wang Chuanfu, the founder, chairman, and CEO of BYD

This can be a important growth for Zambia and the remainder of the continent. It’s one other instance that goes to point out that conversations across the electrical mobility ecosystem at the moment are being held on the highest ranges in additional African international locations. Because the transition in direction of electrical mobility accelerates world wide, African international locations shouldn’t be left behind and also needs to be positioning themselves to extract most worth for his or her economies and residents.

Through the years, we’ve lined numerous the developments taking place within the electrical mobility area in a number of international locations on the African continent. Primarily all of those have been pushed purely by the non-public sector by unbiased small corporations with some help from some NGOs, some angel investments, development accelerators, some enterprise capital corporations, and in numerous instances, funded purely by cofounders bootstrapping to get issues performed. Numerous these corporations have been operating pilot applications at numerous phases and a few at the moment are transitioning to early commercialization phases. However as one well-known particular person mentioned, prototypes are simple, manufacturing is difficult, and due to this fact all these corporations want all of the help they’ll get.

There at the moment are some trade our bodies which are attempting to work with key stakeholders, together with governments of their international locations, to construct a vital mass, talking with one voice, and lobbying for help for the e-mobility sector. Nonetheless, one of many key enablers of the transition will at all times be important buy-in from the native and nationwide governments. So, it’s actually nice to see President HH of Zambia participating with among the world trade leaders. Hopefully this can translate into some strong tangible outcomes.

Zambia has a number of key minerals which are a part of the e-mobility provide chain, akin to copper, cobalt, and nickel. Hopefully discussions additionally revolved round how among the extra inexpensive EVs coming from BYD’s secure such because the BYD Dolphin, ATTO 3, and Seagull (when the Seagull will get a right-hand drive model) may be supplied on the Zambian market within the close to future, to assist improve the variety of all electrical automobiles supplied within the Zambian market, thereby serving to to catalyze the transition. As volumes develop, this might additionally result in a probably massive alternative to have a few of these automobiles assembled in Zambia, unlocking key alternatives alongside the worth chain for native suppliers of some elements. Zambia’s grid is powered by about 90% renewables, largely hydropower, which means electrical automobiles within the nation can be charging on some very clear electrical energy.

We actually want extra presidents on the African continent to affix the dialog and actively lead on a few of these initiatives. We see examples from different locations, such because the latest assembly between Elon Musk and President Erdoğan of Turkey. Additionally, simply the opposite day, Elon Musk additionally met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Nearer to house, President William Ruto of Kenya has additionally been actively selling electrical mobility. On the latest Africa Local weather Summit in Nairobi, President Ruto switched his entire motorcade to an all-electric one, including electric motorcycles and cars for the duration of the Summit. I can be following all of this motion carefully to see if extra leaders on the African continent additionally begin to actively promote electrical mobility.

Photographs courtesy of the Workplace of the President of Zambia